The Rundown

The fires in Los Angeles have captured the empathy and attention of people all over the world. Canada has sent water bombers to help extinguish the fires. And, of course, many Canadians live in southern California. Jens Lindemann is a world-renowned trumpet player. He was a member of the Canadian Brass, has an honorary degree from Hamilton's McMaster University, is an honorary fellow at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, has the Order of Canada, and tonight finds himself homeless. His house in Pacific Palisades is gone. Jens Lindemann joins Steve Paikin to share his story about the devastation wrought by the inferno.

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Health Canada's 5th annual report on medical assistance in dying was released in December, reflecting numbers and demographics from 2023. For the first time, race and Indigenous identity, and disability were measured. For a discussion on who is requesting and receiving MAID, and for what illnesses, we welcome James Downar, Clinical Research Chair in Palliative and End of Life Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa; Rebecca Vachon, Program Director of Health at Cardus Canada; zSonu Gaind, a psychiatrist and professor at University of Toronto; and Sandy Buchman, a palliative care doctor working out of North York General Hospital.

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After two decades of raging against the machine, The NDP MP for Timmins-James Bay, Charlie Angus, is leaving Canadian politics at the end of this parliament's life. He is also the author of a new book called "Dangerous Memory: Coming of Age in the Decade of Greed." He joins Steve Paikin in studio for a wide-ranging discussion on his political career, and a tumultuous period in Ottawa.

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Municipal budget season in Ontario is coming to a close, and if there's one major takeaway from all of these proposals and deliberations, it's that property taxes everywhere are going up in 2025. But the rate of the increase is much more steep in some places than in others. Why is that? And what, exactly, are these billions of dollars collected by cities and towns being spent on?

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The cost of housing, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area, is one of our most persistent problems. Governments have employed a lot of strategies to get the prices down, and yet, they remain stubbornly high. The city of Vaughan in York Region recently announced a new approach, and the city's mayor, Steven Del Duca, joins The Agenda to explain.

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In recent years, Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister, has become a contentious subject. Statues have been taken down, his name has been removed from schools and his face has been removed from the $10 bill. However, one author is pushing back against the noise. The Agenda invites author Patrice Dutil to speak on his latest book, "Sir John A. Macdonald & the Apocalyptic Year 1885."

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What is going on with the scientific research? How do product labels manipulate us? Can we trust online reviews? Timothy Caulfield dives into all of these issues in his new book: "The Certainty Illusion: What You Don't Know and Why it Matters."

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For decades in Ontario's capital city, the words Regent Park brought up images of drugs, crime, and decay. But over the past decade and a half, Regent Park has been transformed. Mitchell Cohen is president and CEO of the Daniels Corporation, which led much of the regeneration of Regent Park. He chronicles that journey in a new book called: "Rhythms of Change, Reflections on the Regent Park Revitalization".

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The Ford government has been criticized recently for fast-tracking legislation and skipping the committee stage that usually includes public consultation. But is it sometimes necessary to skip steps in order to "Get It Done?" When should the public be consulted? And what does the public hearing process actually look like in this province?

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Justin Trudeau has acknowledged it was the burgeoning calls from his caucus that ultimately convinced him it was time to step down. What is his legacy as prime minister? And does his departure give the Liberals a chance to refresh the brand before the next election? We ask: Tonda MacCharles, parliamentary bureau reporter for the Toronto Star; Jeffrey Simpson, for more than three decades, a national affairs columnist with the Globe and Mail; and Ontario's 25th premier Kathleen Wynne, who now teaches public policy at Victoria University and Trinity College at the University of Toronto.

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