The Big Story

Unlike the most recent Conservative Party of Canada leaders to attempt to win a federal election, Pierre Poilievre has a new strategy. Since he won the job last fall, he has avoided the typical shift to the centre that his predecessor's have attempted. How does he plan to win by holding firm to the right? Can he win without centrist suburban support?

What would it take to get an election this year, anyway? And what would the campaign look like if one were called?

GUEST: Stephen Maher, writing in The Walrus with Frank Graves

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This is the time of year when many people try to organize their finances for the coming year—how much things will cost, how much to spend, how much to save, all of that. But after one of the most turbulent economic years in recent memory, 2023 is shaping up to be even more unpredictable.

What should Canadians expect from their economy this year? How can you make financial plans in an age of inflation and interest rates, when everything from everyday groceries to the stocks in your portfolio are volatile? Should we still be worried about filling our RRSPs and savings accounts, or just stashing anything possible to try and get by? What does a 2023 budget look like?

GUEST: Shannon Lee Simmons, certified financial planner, chartered investment manager, founder of the New School of Finance and author of No-Regret Decisions

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One of the biggest problems facing humans attempting to travel anywhere in space that's farther than the moon is the years it will take to get there. A small ship simply can't support normal human life for that long. We need too much food, water, exercise and stimulation. But ... what if we didn't? What if we could shut ourselves down, the way animals do in the middle of winter, needing limited supplies and passing months as though they were days?

This used to be the realm of science fiction. It's not anymore.

GUEST: Brendan I. Koerner, contributing editor at WIRED, author of The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking

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We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. 

In the sixth and final instalment of our Staff Picks series, TBS host Jordan Heath-Rawlings explains why he selected an episode from July about our ever-decreasing attention spans, and what he's been doing to help regain his focus. 

—ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—

Have you by any chance been struggling to focus recently? Maybe you used to read long books, or dive into old hobbies and learning new things, and now that feels a lot harder than it should. You are not alone. Research shows that we are suffering through a profound loss of attention, and it's getting worse every day.

So what happened to us? Did we lose ourselves in our new devices, or has our attention been deliberately stolen? And what can we do to get it back?

GUEST: Johann Hari, journalist and author of Stolen Focus

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

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We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. 

In the fifth instalment of our Staff Picks series, TBS producer Joe Fish explains why he selected an episode from September about counterfeit toonies. 

—ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—

They call it the "camel-toe toonie", and you will understand why as soon as you look at the front right paw of the polar bear on it. Since they were first discovered in circulation in 2020, estimates range from at least tens of thousands to likely millions of them reaching circulation.

But who is behind it? How do you counterfeit toonies at scale and get them into the banking system? And ... why toonies?

GUEST: Brent Mackie, creator of cameltoetoonies.ca, numismatist, treasurer of Waterloo Coin Society

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

Through email at [email protected]

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Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. 

In the fourth instalment of our Staff Picks series, TBS producer Ebyan Abdigir explains why she selected an episode that originally aired in the wake of the Pope's apology tour back in August. 

—ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—

Now that the Pope has left Canada, it's worth looking at what he's leaving behind. It's complicated. Was the Papal Apology a sincere expression of regret and compassion and a promise to do better? Or was it checking off call to action #58 from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's list?

Will his visit help to heal the pain of survivors and the grief of their families? Or will it be seen as an unsatisfying end to a story that once hoped for so much more real change? Or ... both? What needs to come from this historic apology to make it meaningful?

GUEST: Patty Krawec, Anishnaabe writer from Lac Seul First Nation, co-host of the podcast Medicine for the Resistance, and author of the upcoming book, Becoming Kin.

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

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What mattered most? What changed us? What didn't we pay enough attention to? And what will we remember about 2022 in 2025 or 2030?

As the year wraps up we called some of our favourite guests from a variety of fields to ask them what stood out, and what really mattered. And we made you a blooper reel. Have a safe and happy new year from all of us at TBS, and we'll return with brand new episodes on January 3, 2023.

GUESTS:

Cormac Mac Sweeney, Parliament Hill reporter, CityNews
Vass Bednar, author of Regs 2 Riches
Balkan Devlen, Superforecaster at Good Judgement Inc.
Donnovan Bennett, Sportsnet Writer, host of Going Deep
Fatima Syed, guest host of TBS, Ontario reporter at The Narwhal
Sabina Vohra-Miller, clinical pharmacologist

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

Through email at [email protected]

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Grab a hot chocolate and settle in by the fire for two tales of supernatural wonder from Canada’s frozen north: one from the Yukon Territory, one from the coast of Labrador. The first is a long-forgotten, supposedly “true” tale about how a mining engineer from Alaska was saved by a stranger who appeared to him in a dream. The second is well-known story of a phantom trapper said to roam the wilds of Labrador. Both are deeply set in the snowy wilds of the north, and deal with themes of the supernatural and salvation—perfect for sharing on a cold winter’s night.

Listen to more Fireside Canada. And read the complete show notes and more at FiresideCanada.ca

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

Through email at [email protected]

Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. 

In the third instalment of our Staff Picks series, Frequency's Digital Editor, Mary Jubran, explains why she selected an episode from April about a lack of available sex assault evidence collection kits in Canadian hospitals. 

—ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—

Many victims have come to Canadian hospitals after they've survived a sexual assault, only to be informed that the hospital doesn't have either the equipment or the personnel to properly collect evidence for a future investigation. In some cases, victims have been sent to hospitals many miles away. Why are these kits scattered around the country, instead of being immediately available at any hospital? And who has the power to fix it?

GUEST: Jacqueline Villeneuve-Ahmed is the founder and director of She Matters, a community of women-identifying survivors and allies

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

Through email at [email protected]

Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We asked different Frequency staff members which TBS episodes resonated most with them in 2022. As we take a break from releasing new episodes over the holidays, we felt this was the perfect time to revisit these old favourites, and give you a bit of a glimpse into all the work that goes into making your favourite shows. 

In the second instalment of our Staff Picks series, Frequency's manager of business development, Diana Keay, explains what she found so fascinating — and heartbreaking — about journalist Omar Mouallem's deep dive into the Canadian cannabis industry. 

—ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES—

It was supposed to make billions upon billions as an industry, and the investors were chasing millions of their own. Instead, thousands of Canadians were left holding empty bags, having lost jobs, savings and opportunities to the promise of fast money and an industry that could never have possibly matched the hype.

How did (almost) everyone get the weed industry so wrong? And what happened to those Canadians who bought into the hype?

GUEST: Omar Mouallem, reporting in Canadian Business

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

Through email at [email protected]

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