The Big Story

This episode first aired on October 10, 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! 

New data shows that consumer insolvency rates in Canada are approaching highs not seen since the financial crisis of 2008-09. Why are so many Canadians going broke? Will falling interest rates help change that? How can you tell if you're dangerously close to the edge, and what should you do about it if you are? We speak to licensed insolvency trustee, Doug Hoyes, to help understand the rising numbers and current options.

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On Sunday and Monday, many of us will celebrate Thanksgiving with family and a full table. But so, so many of us—a staggering number that keeps climbing—will be making do with much less than that. Food insecurity in Canada keeps rising, and food banks in this country are strained to the limit, with no relief on the horizon.

But why are food banks our only plan for the growing number of hungry Canadians? If we're so keen to help people eat, especially around the holidays, why aren't we doing anything before they end up lining up down the block for charity? What policies could meaningfully change how we feed people in this country? And what will it take for us to get them enacted?

GUEST: Dr. Valerie Tarasuk, principal investigator for PROOF, Professor Emerita at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Toronto

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The rural area around Toronto's major highways is some of the most fertile land you'll find in Canada, and its zoned that way. It's agricultural land, with plenty of space for peaceful rural homesteads—or, as the city grows, townhouses and small communities.

Oh, and trucks. Thousands of them, rolling up and down those rural roads all day and night, and parking at one of literally hundreds of illegal truck depots that are operating throughout the region. It's been happening for years. And there's nothing, at least so far, anyone has been able to do to stop them....

GUEST: David Rider, Senior Political Reporter, The Toronto Star

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Did Canada's competition tribunal just get serious about extra online fees? In a recent decision the tribunal levied its harshest punishment in history against the country's leading theatre chain, Cineplex, over what it says is a failure to disclose an extra fee during online ticket purchases.

While Cineplex plans to appeal, the ruling is seen as a warning shot to other online retailers regarding add-ons and fees on their websites. Will it make a difference? What qualifies as "drip pricing", anyway? And what happens now to the $38.9 million?

GUEST: Tara Deschamps, business reporter, The Canadian Press

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

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Last month, the US Department of Justice charged two employees of RT, a Russian state-controlled media outlet, in a $10 million scheme to create and distribute content to US. As the story evolved it became clear that the content was distributed by far-right influencers, including a Canadian.

But Russia's been playing this game since it was the USSR. Its attempts to fracture politics in the west is nothing new. SO why has it worked so well? And what have we actually done in Canada to confront it?

GUEST: Stephanie Carvin, former national security analyst, Associate Professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, author of Stand on Guard: Reassessing threats to Canada's National Security

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

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Being a part of a clinical drug trial can pay very well—up to several thousand dollars. And a lot of people need that cash and are desperate to take part. 

But when someone's desperate for that money, they'll cut a lot of corners: lie to be accepted, fail to report adverse reactions or other complicating factors and skip the mandatory recovery time between trials. When that happens, it can throw everything off, including the data that Health Canada may be relying on in order to approve these drugs for all of us to use...

GUEST: Rob Cribb, director of the Investigative Journalism Bureau, investigative reporter at 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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For this weekend's look back, we're revisiting an episode from June 2023 about the level of noise we've become accustomed to in our daily lives, and the effect it's having on us. 

We hope you enjoy! 

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You know how sometimes you notice that it's eerily quiet? That's because we're so accustomed to the background noise of life in a city of any size, that sudden silence catches our attention. From cars and trucks to neighbours and kids, modern appliances to incessant TV, music or videos, we rarely have a silent waking moment.

New research is beginning to discover exactly what that's doing to us, and the results are fascinating. It's not just us, either. When the world's water traffic mostly stopped during the first month of Covid lockdowns, the absence of the usual noise actually changed the way some sea creatures communicate... so what does a noisy world do to us all?

GUEST: Bojan Furst, writing in The Walrus

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

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The Big Story is happy to present the second season of Africville Forever. Season 1 told the story of the destruction of a community, season 2 is telling the story of its rebirth. If you enjoy, please check out the rest of the episodes here.

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For too long, the Africvillian survivors and descendents have been divided, hampering our efforts to take back the land and rebuild our unique community. Solutions exist, so we are looking around the world for stories, experts and activists who have helped displaced communities rebuild, in an effort to learn. 

We'll be speaking to people like Ms. Paula Gaviria Betancur, Human Rights Lawyer and a Forced Displacement Expert, UN Special Rapporteur and Kavon Ward, Founder of Where Is My Land. We will also be looking inward, speaking to the next generation of Africvillians who are making waves and fighting their own battles in the name of advancement.

So join us as we explore practical, inclusive solutions to unite our people.

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

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Almost everywhere in Canada, the car is king. Even in walkable downtowns of our largest cities, traffic is generally given priority over pedestrians, and any proposal to change that is met with complaints from drivers, businesses and delivery services. 

But it doesn't have to be that way. There's one Canadian city that has, slowly but surely, taking back some of its most beloved streets and neighbourhoods from daily commuter traffic. This is how Montreal just ... went ahead and did it, and what we can learn from that.

GUEST: Toula Drimonis, writing in The Walrus

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

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Liberals, whether that's the capital-L liberal party in Canada, or the Biden administration or the Labour party in the UK, are almost always the party of immigration. They celebrate it, they value it and — at least in Canada —they have recently raised targets to record levels.

And with this comes an assumption. That because the Liberals are the party of immigration, most immigrants are voting for the Liberals. But, simply put, what if that's just not true in Canada today? Like, not at all?

GUEST: Rhea Santos, video journalist and anchor for OMNI News Filipino Edition

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

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