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Over the last week, it seemed like Ontaro’s COVID-19 outbreak was getting out of control. Every day for five days, the province was reporting more than 400 new cases. Then yesterday, the case count started to drop dramatically. But experts say that Ontario is still unprepared to continue reopening and that the outbreak is far from controlled. And there are a lot of reasons behind that. Today, we’re joined by Global News’ Supriya Dwivedi to talk about the mixed, and often contradictory, messaging coming from various levels of government and how that might be making things worse. 

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Over the weekend, thousands of people took to the streets in Hong Kong to protest a controversial new national security law being pursued by the Chinese government. The pro-democracy protesters fear the law could spell the end of Hong Kong society as we know it. Today, we’re talking with UBC professor Leo Shin about the new law, why China might be doing this in the middle of the pandemic, and what’s at stake for the international community if it passes. 

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Businesses around the world have had to quickly figure out how to let their employees work from home during the pandemic. Now, some companies have announced that their employees can work from home forever. But, a lot of companies aren’t saying goodbye to traditional office spaces just yet, and are starting to figure out how to bring employees back safely. But how do you redesign modern office spaces for the age of COVID-19? Today, we’re tackling this with Financial Post reporter Vanmala Subramaniam.

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For the past little while, Alison Roman has been the darling of the food media world, and that’s been especially the case since the start of the pandemic. Many millennials have turned to her recipes like “The Stew” and “The Pasta.” But Roman recently found herself on the receiving end of an internet backlash regarding comments she made about Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo. Today, we’re joined by journalist Navneet Alang to talk about his new Eater piece about this and the deeper issues about the food media world and representation.

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This week, Donald Trump revealed that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine to prevent himself from contracting COVID-19 — despite the lack of evidence to support that it can treat or prevent it. In fact, public health experts have warned that the drug can cause potentially harmful side effects. Today, we’re joined by medicinal chemist Derek Lowe to talk about the hype around hydroxychloroquine and whether it’s actually showing any promise in the fight against COVID-19.

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This week, Global News revealed that a deadly attack at a Toronto massage parlour in February is now being treated as an alleged act of terrorism linked to misogynist incel ideology. Experts say it’s the first time terrorism charges have been laid over a violent crime tied to incels, a term that refers to self-described “involuntary celebates.” Today, Global News reporter Stewart Bell explains the significance of treating this as terrorism and how the incel movement has evolved in recent years. 

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This week, provinces across Canada are continuing to reopen their economies—slowly. However, experts have warned against re-opening too soon without the proper testing and contact tracing regimes. Today, we’re joined by Steven Hoffman, the director of the Global Strategy Lab and a professor of global health at York University, to talk about countries around the world that have reopened, how they’re responding to spikes in new COVID-19 cases, and what Canada can learn from them. 

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Description:  Julie LaLonde is one of Canada’s best-known women’s rights advocates and experts on sexual violence. But until 2015, she carried a really big secret: that she had been stalked by an ex-boyfriend for a decade. Today, we’re talking with Julie about her memoir, Resilience is Futile: The life and death and life of Julie LaLonde, and why stalking has been mostly left out of the conversations about violence against women.

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Universities and colleges around the world are going virtual because of the pandemic. This week, a number of postsecondary institutions in Canada announced that they would be primarily offering online classes next semester, a big change for a lot of students who were looking forward to the typical campus experience. Today, we’re talking to a university student, a professor, and a learning expert about their experiences with online learning and what these drastic changes are already revealing about our education system. 

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Over the last few weeks, it’s become clear that our food supply chains aren’t invincible. We’ve seen major COVID-19 outbreaks at meat processing facilities across the country; fruit and vegetable farms are struggling with labour shortages. But there’s also an over-supply problem that’s hitting farmers really hard. Today, we’re joined by Global News’ chief political correspondent David Akin about how the pandemic has our food supply chains, and if we need to be concerned about food security. 

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