The Big Story

There are millions of Canadians for whom the rapid fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban has been a shock. The images coming from the country right now are disturbing and will likely only get worse in the days and weeks to come.

This war was the longest in Canada's history, featuring 12 years of military efforts. For America, it was two full decades. But now that the US has left the country, it's worth asking: If this is the result, why were we there? What were we doing? What did decades of death and trillions of dollars get the people of Afghanistan?

GUEST: Stephen Saideman, Paterson Chair in International Affairs at Carleton University, author of Adapting in the Dust: Lessons Learned from Canada’s War in Afghanistan

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It's August. It's hot. People are on vacation. Parents are preparing for back-to-school. There's a fourth wave of COVID-19 rising. A lot of forests are on fire. And Canadians are going to the polls. Why?

Is this a power grab by the federal Liberals? Or is it a critical time for Canadians to make decisions about the future of their country in the face of multiple crises? Or ... both of those things?

GUEST: David Moscrop

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Food costs more. Employees aren't returning. Pandemic protocols are costly, but necessary. Indoor dining won't be full for some time yet. COVID-19 has altered the way restaurants survive and thrive — and it looks like there's no going back to the past, even after the pandemic ends. So what does the future of your local favourite look like?

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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At the height of the pandemic last year, top public health officials were openly hoping that COVID-19 meant the end of the handshake. Even if the greeting doesn't effectively transmit the coronavirus, it's a very effective way to pass on other bacteria. After 18 months of non-contact greetings, will society at large return to shaking hands in casual settings? Will you? And will it become another battleground in the culture war that has already politicized masks and vaccinations?

GUEST: Daniel Dumas, Editor-at-Large, Esquire

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The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a UN-sponsored body that periodically releases a synthesis of current climate science, doesn't reveal anything we didn't already know or experience. The Earth is hotter than it's ever been. Sea levels are rising and causing more extreme weather events. The report is a big deal for making the one conclusion no one can ever question again: climate change is human-caused and is having a tremendous impact. That impact isn't just on our planet but on us humans: our health, safety and well-being are at stake. The report tells us what actions we can take to protect ourselves. So what do governments, industries and individual citizens need to do?

Guest: Rick Smith
Guest-host: Fatima Syed

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In recent weeks, as demands for a vaccine passport grow around the world, politicians are citing our rights to life, liberty and security as a reason to allow portions of our population to not be vaccinated. They say making vaccines mandatory will erode our rights, and nothing, not even a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, is worth that.

We all have rights, but we also have a duty to keep each other safe. How do we do that?

Guest: Emmett Macfarlane
Guest-host: Fatima Syed

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The Liberal government has released new pay equity legislation that goes into effect on August 31. The goal is to provide all employees in a few federally regulated sectors "equal pay for work of equal value" and thus finally end a gender pay gap that hasn't been narrowed in decades.

Canadian women have been waiting for this for 50 years, while many other countries have already taken proactive measures to force companies to report and correct the gender pay gap. Is this a turning point? And will we finally succeed?

Guest: Andrea Gunraj

Guest host: Fatima Syed

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On November 28, 2020, a 24-year-old was arrested for installing a shunt—a wire that mimics the electrical signal of a train and causes oncoming trains to derail—along the railway tracks near Bellingham, Washington. She is now facing 20 years in prison and terror charges. Reports suggest she was acting in solidarity with the Wet'suwet'en movement fighting to stop the construction of the Coastal Gaslink pipeline.

This is a form of radical and often dangerous act of protest that people are turning towards to demand change. Are these acts effective? And how far is too far?

Guest: Hilary Beaumont
Guest-host: Fatima Syed
 

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After nine seasons as a Toronto Raptor, Kyle Lowry is leaving for a three-year, 90 million dollar contract with the Miami Heat. He led us to our first-ever championship and along the way become the heart and soul of an entire city and country — an honour awarded to few athletes.

Who was the man behind the title? How did he shape the team? And how will they go on without him?

Guest: Doug Smith, Toronto Star
Guest-host: Fatima Syed

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A new study by RBC found the number of people who left their jobs in June tripled compared to the same month in 2020. RBC expects 125,000 people to retire in the second half of the year as baby boomers just opt out of the daily grind. Managers are worried and trying to keep people by offering all kinds of mental health and wellness benefits. But nothing’s working because we’re still not addressing the root causes of burnout. We need a new kind of corporate workplace that doesn’t make us feel this way. How do we do that?

Guest: Karen K. Ho

Guest-host: Fatima Syed

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