The Big Story

Its mechanics were officially off the job only 29 hours. But more than a week after they returned to work, WestJet was still struggling with cancelled flights and stranded passengers. Travelers impacted by the strike reported almost no customer service, including no efforts by WestJet to rebook them on other airlines, as the company is required to do. On the busiest travel weekend of the summer, and for a week afterwards, Canadians were left up in the air. Now they're trying to figure out what they're owed, and if they'll get it.

How did such a shoirt strike cause so much havoc? What was WestJet required to do in this situation and, did they do it? Will passengers ever see the compensation they're due? And why is air travel in this country still so fraught with error?

GUEST: Christopher Reynolds, reporter, The Canadian Press

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For 32 years a moratorium on cod fishing was in place in Newfoundland. When it hit, it cost tens of thousands of jobs, decimated the economy and changed the identity of the province. But now the ban has been lifted. Sort of. At least a little. And everyone is wondering what happens next...

Should the ban have been lifted? How far back have the cod come in 32 years? What will this mean to Newfoundland's economy? And why are so many experts worried about how and why this decision was made?

GUEST: Jenn Thornhill Verma, award-winning investigative journalist covering fisheries, oceans and climate change; author of Cod Collapse: The Rise and Fall of Newfoundland's Saltwater Cowboys

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It's summer, and parents across Canada are desperately looking for things to occupy their children. So why not take a trip to your local mall? That is, while you still can. In this episode from 2022, we examine what our society loses, as more and more malls across the country decide to close their doors. We hope you enjoy! 

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All across North America, malls are vanishing. Some are simply being demolished, others are turning into condo complexes or Amazon warehouses. The rise of online shopping has made them less necessary for simply acquiring goods, but that was never all that malls were for.

When was the last time you just browsed? Wandered a store with no particular purchase in mind, hoping to find something cool? Or spent some time aimlessly "just looking"? In a hyper-focused digital world, we're spending less and less time free from a specific task or goal—which is what an afternoon at the mall accomplishes, at least while they're still around.

GUEST: Jason Guriel, author of On Browsing

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A winter hike was the way his father, then prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, decided he was through with politics and would not run again. Inflation was high, Canadians were struggling and he was deeply unpopular and likely to lose the next election. Sound familiar?

After a devatstating loss in a byelection that was thought to be a safe win last month, the calls for Trudeau to follow his father's footsteps are getting louder, including from some in his own party. Will he heed them? Wy does he want to stay? Who might replace him if he goes? Our guest today just wrote a biography of Trudeau and will try to take us inside the party, and Trudeau's thinking.

GUEST: Stephen Maher, author of The Prince: The Turbulent Reign of Justin Trudeau

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Political collapse is an order of magnitude different than, say, "a trouble democracy" or even "a hard right government". It means the end of democracy, a massive reordering of what life in that nation—and when that nation is America, by extension, the world—looks like.

This is a conversation that's very difficult to have. It's hard to wrap your mind around it, especially for those of us who have lives, and families and jobs and not a lot of time to ruminate on the future of democracy. But if it isn't our job to confront it, surely it's the job of our leaders, or politicians who hope to avert the worst-case scenario. Are they talking about it? Preparing for it? What exactly would political collapse look like in America and elsewhere? And would we recognize it before it's too late?

GUEST: David Moscrop, author of Too Dumb For Democracy

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Learning that legendary Canadian writer Alice Munro was complicit in ignoring the sexual abuse of her daughter by her husband has shocked the country and forced us all to grapple with the progress we have—and haven't—made since the #MeToo movement went viral in 2017.

In an essay for The Toronto Star, Andrea Robin Skinner detailed how her mother ignored her reports of abuse by her stepfather, even when he acknowledged it in writing. It's not the only high-profile literary sex abuse scandal of the past week, either. How has the public grappled with the news? And seven years on, are we getting better at believing victims, and understanding just how common this type of situation is?

GUEST: Julie Lalonde, speaker and educator, women's rights advocate, author of Resilience Is Futile

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Ontario's liquor distribution workers are on strike for the first time in their history. The reason? The government's plan to open up places like corner stores for beer, wine and mixed cooler sales. It's the latest chapter in a strange history of alcohol policy in the province that dates back to prohibition.

The LCBO brings in billions in revenue each year for the government, but Premier Doug Ford has long pushed for more convenience in alcohol retail. Meanwhile, the rest of the country wonders why the province needed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars just to make beer in corner stores possible. Today, a look inside this fight, and many others Ontario has had over drink, over the years.

GUEST: Richard Southern, Queen's Park reporter, CityNews

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Eight years ago, the Prime Minister was welcoming Syrian refugees to Canada at the airport, to international acclaim. Canada was viewed as one of the world leaders in accepting asylum claimants from war-torn or dangerous countries. We were good at it.

Last year, asylum seekers were camped out in the streets, begging for a spot in shelters. They sat on months-long waitlists for basic documents that would allow them to work. There is no space in shelters, and we're cramming them into hotels. Safe to say there are no smiles from the Prime Minister or happy headlines. How did our system come crashing down so quickly?

GUEST: Jordan Michael Smith, writing in Maclean's

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On Sundays, we revisit some of our favourite episodes. If you're new to the show, we hope you enjoy hearing these for the first time, and if you've been with us a while, enjoy this trip down memory lane!

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ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:

When you were a child, did you have limits on the amount of TV you could watch? Or video or computer games you could play? Too much of that stuff "would rot your brain", right? It was universally accepted that too much screen time would hinder kids development.

But is that still true in a world where children spent more than a year working, playing and learning online? In a world where my child will fall behind if she doesn't learn how to use a touchscreen? In a world where much of the rest of their lives will be spent online, how connected should children be?

GUEST: Dr. Nusheen Ameenuddin, chair of The American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Mayo Clinic.

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First the Ontario Science Centre was to be moved in a year or two, and that was enough to spark a protest movement to keep the iconic building designed by a renowned architect right where it was. Then, out of nowhere, it was simply closed for good, with Ontario's government citing a report that the roof would pose a danger in winter.

In the wake of its sudden closure, there have been offers of private donations to fix the roof, the architectural firm that designed it has offered to lead those repairs and thousands of citizens have rallied to try and change the province's mind. But nothing's changed. Why did the Science Centre close so suddenly? Where will it live next? And who profits from that?

GUEST: Aidan Chamandy, political reporter for The Trillium

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