The Big Story

It's been three years now since single-game sports betting was legalized in Canada. And since that time, it's become available...everywhere. Especially on your phone, in any number of apps, 24 hours a day. At the time there were concerns about what that easy access would do to problem gamblers. And we're finally getting a pretty clear picture of just what that has wrought.

So what can we tell about the increase in problem gambling? What did the initial legislation get right and wrong, and what's changed as we've progressed? What could we still do to protect those who struggle with betting? And with the billions in tax revenue taken in, what have governments been doing to make more resources available?

GUEST: Anthony Milton, writing in Maclean's

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With some already starting their holiday shopping, we bring you an episode from our vault on dynamic pricing. Enjoy!

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You and a friend might be given two different prices by the same website for the same item. Heck, you might be given two different prices yourself depending on where you are when you're browsing the site. It's a phenomenon that began as dynamic pricing—a computer balancing supply and demand to ensure everything was sold at a price the market was prepared to pay—but it's now gone well beyond that.

As algorithms become smarter and more advanced, and as we voluntarily offer our devices and the companies we do business with more of our information, the prices you see may take into account things like where you are, what device you're on, your shopping history and... well, everything the machine knows about you. Is this the kind of shopping experience we want? If not, what do we do about it?

GUEST: Colin Horgan, writing in The Walrus

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This episode first aired on November 7, 2024 over at In This Economy?!, our sister show at the Frequency Podcast Network. The show helps Canadians understand the systems behind their money problems so they can make informed decisions about their personal finances. If you like what you hear, please consider giving us a follow! 

This holiday season, about one third of Canadians are planning to either buy fewer gifts, or spend less on the gifts they do buy because they're struggling with their finances. Today, we're looking at ways to limit holiday spending without disappointing anyone.

GUEST: Shannon Lee Simmons, Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Investment Manager (CIM)  and founder of the award winning New School of Finance. 

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It's been a tough news week, let's end it on a butter note. Thieves in Guelph, Ontario—but not just in Guelph, Ontario—have been stealing hundreds of pounds of butter from grocery stores, making off with about $1,000 worth of the yellow gold with each successive heist. It's been happening for months, and the only people police managed to charge so far ... have vanished.

So why butter? Why so MUCH butter? What do you even do with a hundred pounds of butter at a time? Who's buying it and what are they using it for? And why, with so much evidence and such brazen thefts, have police not been able to stop it?

GUEST: Mark Colley, Toronto-based general assignment reporter for the Toronto Star

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In the end, it wasn't even particularly close. And now Canada and the world can only prepare for what a second term of President Donald Trump might look like. As the United States' closest neighbour, Trump's plans have the potential to impact many aspects of Canadian life—from trade to immigration to defence spending, our next federal election and much more than that.

So what should Canada do now to prepare? Is there really anything we can do? Where might Trump's biggest impact on Canada be felt? And what should Canadians expect the next four years to bring?

GUEST: David Moscrop, political writer and commentator; author of Too Dumb For Democracy

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Over the past several years, measures of economic productivity have seen Canada tumbling. First slowly, then rapidly. Once nearly at par with the United States, we've fallen far behind them—and by some measures we're one of the developed world's least productive countries right now.

How did this happen? Which industries are lagging behind and dragging us down? How much of this fall was within Canada's control, and how much was due to external factors? And when we speak of a country's or a province's "productivity", what exactly are we measuring, and how?

GUEST: Trevor Tombe, Professor at the University of Calgary’s Department of Economics; Director of Fiscal and Economic Policy at The School of Public Policy; Contributor at thehub.ca

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With the invasion of Ukraine nearing the 1000-day mark, there are questions about where Ukraine's defenders find themselves. Russia has been making a strong push to stake out more ground, and in Russian-occupied territory there a reports of its soldiers hunting civilians. Despite an offensive into Russia earlier this year, the situation seems to be dire.

And when America votes today on its next president, few countries will have as much at stake as Ukraine, which faces the possibility of being all but abandoned by America with a Trump victory. Meanwhile, would a Harris victory do anything more for Ukraine than the status quo? And is the presence of North Korean troops in Russia an indication this war is about to become more than a "regional" conflict?

GUEST: Dr. Balkan Devlen, Director of the Transatlantic Program and Senior Fellow at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, Adjunct professor at Carleton University, expert forecaster for Good Judgment Inc.

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It's been almost 30 years since a narrow vote in the 1995 referendum ended the last threat to Canadian unity. And while it's not as though there hasn't been idle talk since then from angry provinces and their citizens, there's never again been a serious question of a province seceding from Canada...

But history repeats, and as the 30th anniversary of the 1995 vote looms, a look at the underlying political conditions reveals some striking similarities—particularly if as expected the Conservatives decimate the Liberals in the next federal election. So is this idle speculation? Or is this a likely scenario that, amid all the political turmoil in Ottawa and around the world, nobody is paying enough attention to?

GUEST: Gerald Butts, vice chair of the Eurasia group and Director of the World Wildlife Fund; former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, writing about Quebec secession for The Walrus

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

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This week, with all of the wrappers and candy scattered around after Halloween, we're revisiting a episode from 2023 about Toronto's so-called trash bandits. Enjoy!  

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One hundred years ago, raccoons were so rare in Toronto, that a mysterious creature rummaging in a garbage bin warranted a newspaper report. Today, raccoons are basically the city's mascot—literally, the creatures are on all sorts of Toronto memorabilia. The war Toronto waged on raccoons spanned decades, with no end of amusing skirmishes. But it's abundantly clear that it's over. The raccoons won, the people lost, and now we just try to protect our garbage and hope the mess isn't too bad. 

This is how Toronto became the raccoon capital of the world—gradually, then suddenly.

GUEST: Amy Dempsey, senior writer, The Toronto Star

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

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This episode first aired on October 31, 2024 over at In This Economy?!, our sister show at the Frequency Podcast Network. The show helps Canadians understand the systems behind their money problems so they can make informed decisions about their personal finances. If you like what you hear, please consider giving us a follow! 

Many of us, at one point or another, have thought about changing banks. But with those thoughts comes a little uncertainty. How much time will it take? How much money will it cost? Will it impact my borrowing power? Today we tackle everything you need to know about switching banks, so you can understand your options and make a sound decision. 

GUEST: Rubina Ahmed-Haq, personal finance expert and multimedia journalist.

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

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