

The Current
CBC
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.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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 11, 2025 • 13min
Doug Ford hates speed cameras. Do you?
After 16 speed cameras were vandalized in one night in Toronto, Ontario's premier says it's time to get rid of the "tax grab" devices. But Globe and Mail columnist Marcus Gee says they're more needed than ever, as drivers seem to become more reckless.

Sep 11, 2025 • 12min
What Does Russia's Incursion Into Poland Mean for NATO?
For the first time since the war in Ukraine began, NATO has shot down Russian drones over its own territory. Nearly 20 drones crossed into Poland, prompting Prime Minister Donald Tusk to warn his country is closer to war than at any time since WW2. Moscow insists it didn't mean to strike Poland, but many experts call the move deliberate and a provocation designed to test the alliance's resolve.

Sep 11, 2025 • 19min
Charlie Kirk, right wing activist shot dead
The prominent conservative activist was shot and killed yesterday, at an event he was hosting at Utah Valley University. The 31 year old had built a massive following on social media, and his group Turning Point USA has been credited with ensuring Donald Trump's return to the White House. What happened, and how political violence continues to escalate across America.

Sep 10, 2025 • 10min
How energy drinks became the teen drink of choice
The latest wellness-branded must-haves for young people can contain dangerous amounts of caffeine. The drinks are raising concern from experts about the health risks that go with them like anxiety, heart palpitations and trouble sleeping. Now, England is moving to ban energy drinks for people under 16 — should Canada do the same?

Sep 10, 2025 • 20min
Israel strikes Hamas leadership in Qatar and what’s happens next in Gaza City
Hamas says 5 of its members were killed in an attack in Doha that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says was in retaliation for a deadly shooting at a Jerusalem bus stop on Monday as well as the October 7th attacks. With Hamas leadership in Doha to discuss a ceasefire deal proposed by the U.S before the attack, where do talks stand now? We’ll also hear from Karim Abushbak. His parents and his sisters recently fled the bombing in Gaza City. Now, after months of waiting, the Canadian permanent residents have approval from Ottawa to leave Gaza by September 17 - they just have to make it out alive.

Sep 10, 2025 • 24min
Bioluminescence: The secret language of light
She was the first marine biologist to film a giant squid in its habitat. . Edie Widder is a pioneering marine biologist who believes the light in the dark ocean may actually be a form of communication. She has dedicated her life to understanding the phenomenon known as bioluminescence. And she is one of the few people in the world who has been to the deepest 'twilight zone' of the ocean using tiny submersibles. Matt talks to Widder about her quest to capture the bioluminescence on video along with Tasha Van Zandt, director of a new documentary about Widder's life and work. A Life Illuminated is screening as part of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Sep 10, 2025 • 15min
Want to break these 70 unclaimed Guinness World Records?
From the tallest dog to the longest fingernails, the heaviest onion to the smallest waist, the Guinness World Records have been cataloguing and celebrating all of life's superlatives for seven decades. We explore the history and persistence of this phenomenon and speak to a restaurant owner chasing the title of longest beef kebab.

Sep 9, 2025 • 25min
His wife died from sepsis after childbirth — now he's calling for a national strategy
Gurinder and Ravinder Sidhu were excited to welcome their third baby in June. That excitement turned to fear and then grief after Ravinder died from sepsis shortly after her son's birth. Gurinder joins us to talk about how he believes the nurses and doctors didn't act fast enough to treat his wife — and even ignored their pleas for help. And why he's calling for better sepsis care so no other family has to go through what he is enduring. Then two experts talk about why Canada desperately needs a sepsis strategy. An estimated one in eighteen deaths in Canada are from sepsis, many of which Fatima Sheikh, a PhD candidate at McMaster University, and Dr Kali Barrett, a critical care physician and affiliate scientist with the Health Systems and Policy Research Collaborative Centre at UHN, say are preventable.

Sep 9, 2025 • 19min
How kids are getting hooked on sports betting
Gambling logos, ads and chatter are everywhere during hockey broadcasts, despite the harms that can come with betting. Raffaello Rossi of the University of Bristol has the numbers on just how much we were exposed to sports betting during the Stanley Cup playoffs. He hopes that Canada will eventually follow the lead of the UK and other European nations and bring in strict regulations.

Sep 9, 2025 • 27min
Photojournalist Lynsey Addario and the cost of covering war
A US soldier Lynsey Addario covered in Afghanistan called her "hard as woodpecker lips". Over the last 25 years, Addario has covered every major conflict and won some of the most prestigious awards in journalism. She's also lost friends and colleagues and survived two kidnappings. Matt Galloway talks to the award-winning photojournalist about what it really takes to do her work, why the risks are worth it to her, and how she's managed to navigate marriage and motherhood at the same time. Lynsey Addario is sharing her story in a new documentary called 'Love + War' that's screening as part of the Toronto International Film Festival.