Guest: Karon Liu, Toronto Star food reporter

When one Toronto restaurant introduced a $25 cauliflower dish more than 10 years ago, it caused a bit of a stir at its eye-popping price. When Star reporter Karon Liu recently noticed the price of the same dish was now $41, it sent him to look at the steeply rising cost of meals out.

It’s a trend driven by food inflation, wage inflation, rent inflation and a host of other factors. And for many diners, it means eating out is becoming less and less of an attractive option. Which doesn’t mean the restauranteurs are suddenly flush—the drop-off in diners means it’s even harder for them to make up in volume what they might lose by cutting prices.

PLUS: Our food writer’s instructions on what to do if $41 is too steep a price for you

Guest: Queen’s Park Bureau Chief Robert Benzie

Ontario just dropped its biggest budget ever — $232.5 billion — and looming over every dollar of it is the shadow of Donald Trump, his tariffs, and an uncertain economic future. This year’s budget also includes a new $5 billion “Protect Ontario” fund to shield businesses and jobs from the escalating trade war with the U.S. But behind the big numbers lie bigger questions like a $14.6 billion deficit, no major new housing initiatives despite a worsening crisis, and a controversial plan to rip out downtown bike lanes in favour of cars. The Star’s Queen’s Park Bureau Chief Robert Benzie breaks it all down and what this budget means for Ontarians. 

Produced by Saba Eitizaz and Paulo Marques

Guest: Star National Columnist Susan Delacourt

 Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled his first cabinet. On Tuesday, ministers were sworn in at Rideau Hall to a trimmed down and reorganized cabinet, with 28 full members and 10 second-tier members, known as secretaries of state. Carney’s campaign promise was bold change and a post-Trudeau pivot. 

Now that the lineup is out, the question is how much of it signals real transformation? Is this a true reset or does it look like a strategic rebrand? The Star’s veteran political columnist Susan Delacourt provides insights.

Audio source: CTV News

Produced by Saba Eitizaz and Paulo Marques

Guest: Ottawa Bureau Chief Tonda MacCharles 

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to Washington this week was his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump since being elected to office. A lot hangs in the balance, at a time when Canada’s relationship with its largest trading partner is being put to the test.

While Carney made headlines with some bold statements and viral moments with Trump, the real story was the critical test of the Liberals political mandate and Canada’s position on trade, tariffs and sovereignty in a rapidly changing global landscape.

Toronto Star Ottawa bureau chief Tonda MacCharles was in the room where the diplomatic tight-rope was being walked and, she gives an inside look at what really happened. 

 Produced by Saba Eitizaz, Paulo Marques and Lance McMillan 

Guests: Star reporters Nicholas Keung and Ghada Alsharif

During the pandemic, they were called essential. Migrant workers who packed our meat, picked our produce, and kept grocery shelves stocked. In return, many were offered a pathway to permanent residency through a federal pilot program. Now, that door has quietly closed. The Agri-Food Immigration Pilot is being phased out by the federal government. And with it, thousands of low-wage food workers are once again left in Canada’s continuing cycle of “permanently temporary” immigration. Why was the program shut down? What does this mean for the people who grow and deliver our food and for Canada’s food supply chain with a trade war with the U.S. looming over it all? Two Star immigration and labour reporters break it down. 

Produced by Saba Eitizaz and Paulo Marques

Guest: Star city hall reporter Mahdis Habibinia

After the recent devastating vehicle attack at Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day festival, Toronto organizers are raising fresh concerns about soaring security costs and the mounting pressure to keep people safe, especially with the city’s peak festival season around the corner. Toronto has been grappling with these fears for years, particularly after the 2018 van attack on Yonge Street. Since then, efforts to improve safety and crowd control have been underway but serious challenges remain.We look at whether things have actually improved, what risks still exist, and how rising safety demands are testing the limits of festival organizers and the city itself.

Produced by Saba Eitizaz, Paulo Marques and Sean Pattendon

Guest: Shawn Pegg, Director at Community Living Ontario 

A new report by Community Living Ontario exposes a disturbing reality faced by children with disabilities in Ontario schools. Based on interviews with over 500 parents and caregivers, it details how students, some of whom are as young as five, have been locked in rooms, physically restrained, or sent home because schools couldn’t meet their needs. Despite nearly $4 billion in annual special education funding, families and advocates say the system is failing the children. The result is a pattern of trauma, fear, and exclusion playing out in classrooms across the province. We talk to Shawn Pegg, the author of the report about the findings and what needs to be done. 

Produced by Saba Eitizaz and Paulo Marques

Guest:  Ottawa bureau chief Tonda MacCharles 

We’re heading into the final stretch of a charged federal election campaign that’s shaped not just by a critical point in affordability, housing and healthcare but also by global events and Trump’s looming shadow. With election results just around the corner, on Monday; the political mood seems restless.The Star’s Ottawa bureau chief Tonda MacCharles unpacks the political climate, key turning points shaping this campaign and what might come next as the results roll in. 

Produced by Saba Eitizaz, Paulo Marques and Sean Pattendon

Guest: Toronto Star reporter Alex Boyd 

 As Canada heads toward a federal election, the online information landscape is getting messier, more manipulated, and harder to recognize in real time. From repurposed Facebook groups to shady digital operations selling conspiracy-laced content and merch, these tactics are designed to grab attention and slowly shift public opinion. We talk about the strange case of the local buy and sell group in Hamilton, that morphed, almost overnight, into a far-right pro-Trump hub. 

Produced by Saba Eitizaz, Paulo Marques and Sean Pattendon

Guest: Toronto Star crime reporter Peter Edwards 

It’s like a Netflix show in real life. A truck driving off with $24 million in gold and cash, stolen from a hangar outside Pearson International Airport in a crime so smooth it left everyone stunned. Now, two years later the investigation trail spreads across four countries from Canada to the U.S. to Dubai and India. Some of the suspects have fled and it doesn’t like they’re coming back. Neither is the gold. On its two-year anniversary we unpack what’s happened with the infamous Toronto gold heist, the key players and whether there’s any hope left for the case.

 Produced by Saba Eitizaz and Paulo Marques