
The Current
<p>Three stories to expand your worldview, delivered daily. Matt Galloway cuts through a sea of choice to bring you stories that transcend the news cycle. Conversations with big thinkers, household names, and people living the news. An antidote to algorithms that cater to what you already know — and a meeting place for diverse perspectives. In its 20 years, the Current has become a go-to place for stories that shape and entertain us. Released daily, Monday to Friday.</p><p><br></p><p>Some of the topics we’ve covered recently, include: the results of the Canadian Federal election — a minority Liberal government — and Canada’s new Prime Minister-elect Mark Carney. Also, Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative party, who lost his seat in the Ottawa riding of Carleton but also boosted Conservative popular vote share. Meanwhile, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh, who also lost his seat, has resigned following historically low results for his party, which lost official party status in the House. Bloc Québécois leader Yves-François Blanchet kept his seat in Beloeil–Chambly, but lost about a third of its seats. Elizabeth May’s Green Party held on to her seat but she also lost her co-leader Jonathan Pedneault. </p><p><br></p><p>Also on our radar: Heather McPherson, the NDP’s re-elected MP for Edmonton Strathcona, who some observers are saying could be the NDP’s next leader. What Conservatives are thinking now about their leader Pierre Poilievre and the path forward for their party. And how Liberal Leader Mark Carney will govern for all Canadians in a politically divided country facing threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. </p><p><br></p><p>We’re still keeping an eye on: annexation and “51st state” threats, tariffs impacting Canadian jobs, especially farmers, truckers, auto workers, energy sector workers, construction workers and steel and aluminum workers; raising the cost of living, inflation, and unemployment in Canada; straining cross-border relationships, including the historic friendship between Windsor and Detroit. We also discuss “Team Canada,” interprovincial trade, and the rise of “elbows up” Canadian patriotism; Canadian sovereignty and backlash to ‘51st state’ threats; on the world stage, including our relationship with China, Ukraine, India; security and our status in the Five Eyes spy network, NATO and NORAD, and shifting global alliances in general.</p><p><br></p><p>Other recent topics include: Filipino community reeling after Lapu Lapu street festival killings; “Grey divorce” and the rise of separation in late life; Canadians’ top vacation spots; migrants affected by Trump’s deportation push; the death of Pope Francis; landmark antitrust trials against Meta and Google; the sexual assault trial of five ex-world junior hockey players; the liquidation of Hudson’s Bay; the surge in measles cases, hair loss drug finasteride, extremist network 764, protests against Elon Musk and Tesla; Starlink and the rural internet; the turmoil around Israel and Gaza’s ceasefire; more adults with ADHD, Blue Ghost on the moon, genetically modified pig organs; aging well, wellness, dementia and long term care, as well as cancer and “commonsense oncology,” Greenland and Arctic sovereignty, cuts to USAID; Canada’s critical minerals; inflation; mortgages; opioids and Fentanyl, parenting, Canada’s best vacation spots, teens ditching social media; crypto power brokers in the White House; NASA’s new telescope and the making of a 3D map of the universe.</p><p><br></p><p>The Current is produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada — and has recently recorded live shows about the Canadian election in Surrey and Burnaby BC. And shows to come in Oshawa and the 905, Red Deer, Alberta, Quebec City and Halifax.</p>
Latest episodes

May 27, 2025 • 20min
What message is the King's Throne speech sending?
<p>Parliament is back and King Charles delivered his throne speech today. What message is the King's speech meant to send to Canadians, and to one American in particular, Donald Trump? What are the new Liberal government's priorities? CBC’s Catherine Cullen, The Globe and Mail’s Stephanie Levitz, and The National Post’s Christopher Nardi join Matt Galloway to talk about all that and more.</p>

May 27, 2025 • 24min
What are animals saying? AI is helping to decode
<p>Do you speak dolphin? What about marmoset or nightingale? Did you know cuttlefish use a form of sign language to communicate? If your answer was no to all those questions, you should know that scientists are working to turn that into a yes — and AI is playing a key role. How to decode animal communication, and whether that's even a good idea. Three animal communication scientists join us to talk it all through - human to human. </p>

May 27, 2025 • 20min
Can you run a 100km ultramarathon… while breastfeeding?
<p>Running an ultramarathon is hard, but running 100kms six months post-partum and breastfeeding during breaks… Well, that sounds like a scene from an inspirational movie. But, for Stephanie Case, and her baby girl Pepper, it was real life. Why would she do this, and what keeps her running these extreme distances, she shares with Matt Galloway. </p>
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May 26, 2025 • 37min
The Current Introduces | Other People’s Problems, on psychedelics
<p>Normally, therapy sessions are totally confidential — but this podcast opens the doors. In this season of Other People’s Problems, Dr. Hillary McBride explores the transformative power of psychedelics in a therapeutic setting.</p><p><br></p><p>With her psychological expertise, Dr. Hillary leads her clients through drug-assisted therapy, guiding them to new heights on their healing journeys. Experience these real, unscripted sessions firsthand as they unfold in each episode.</p><p><br></p><p>This season offers an unprecedented look at psychedelic psychotherapy, breaking new ground in the podcast space and demystifying this often misunderstood practice as a powerful tool in trauma recovery.</p><p><br></p><p>More episodes of Other People’s Problems are available at: <a href="https://link.mgln.ai/1RjPLj" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://link.mgln.ai/1RjPLj</a></p>

May 26, 2025 • 23min
Do you like grilling? Try live fire for flavour — and zen
<p>It's grilling season, and Chef on Fire has one thing on his mind: cooking on live fire — and he says you should try it too. Chef Michael Smith, in his new book <em>Wood, Fire and Smoke: Recipes and Techniques for Wood-Fired Cooking</em>, explores how cooking on live fire can bring more than just flavour into your life; lighting a fire for zen and a good time.</p>

May 26, 2025 • 20min
Parliament returns today. What’s Mark Carney’s plan?
<p>The House of Commons returns today after nearly six months, Prime Minister Mark Carney with his new Liberal minority government, and Conservatives without their leader Pierre Poilievre in the Parliament. What’s next? Matt Galloway speaks with Karina Gould, the re-elected Liberal MP; Heather McPherson, the re-elected NDP MP; and Andrew Lawton, the first-time Conservative MP about their parties’ priorities, the challenges ahead — and how they can work together for Canada.</p><p><br></p>

May 26, 2025 • 24min
How effective is involuntary care?
<p>‘It is absolutely an act of compassion,’ says Leonard Krog, the mayor of Nanaimo about the use of involuntary care to deal with B.C.’s mental health crisis — but some experts are worried that forcing someone into treatment is a violation of their rights. Matt Galloway speaks with Mayor Krog; Jonny Morris, the CEO of the B.C. Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association; and Dr. Shimi Kang, a psychiatrist with Future Ready Minds for their insight about how to provide care for mental health while protecting public safety — as Premier David Eby works to review the province’s mental health legislation following the deadly Lapu-Lapu Day festival. </p>

May 23, 2025 • 21min
Planning your next vacation? Here’s how to be a good tourist
<p>“Tourists go home," protesters chant in Spain, and they’re not alone. People in many European countries say they want tourists to stay away — but only the bad ones. So as you plan your next vacation, we get some advice on how to be a better tourist. </p>

May 23, 2025 • 19min
5 years after George Floyd: What changed, and what hasn’t?
<p>“I did not see humanity provided to Mr. Floyd that day,” says Medaria Arradondo, the Minneapolis police chief at the time of George Floyd’s murder. Five years after Floyd was murdered in an interaction with police officers Derek Chauvin, Tou Thao, Thomas Lane and J. Alexander Kueng, Matt Galloway talks to former police chief Arradondo and civil rights lawyer and activist Nekima Levy Armstrong about what has or hasn’t changed — and where the Black Lives Matter movement stands in the U.S. today with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.</p>

May 23, 2025 • 24min
Why Michael Crummey is interested in places on the edge
<p>Michael Crummey has won the $154,000 Dublin Literary Award for his book The Adversary, which explores familiar themes around life at the ocean's edge. Matt Galloway spoke with the author at the Woody Point Writers Festival in Newfoundland in Sept. 2023, to discuss isolation, vulgarity and the responsibility that comes with telling the stories of home.</p>