The Big Story

(As well as a note from The Big Story about covering breaking news.)On October 3, nearly everyone agrees that Premier Francois Legault and the CAQ will win another election. But after that, there's a lot in flux. The Parti Quebecois have shrunk to almost nothing, the Liberals are fighting to offer voters a vision ... and the Quebec Solidaire party has a progressive platform and an entirely different approach to sovereignty: Why should it only be for Quebec?Can they win over enough disgruntled CAQ voters to make it close? Will Quebec's younger voters come out in droves for a young leader who rose with them in university protests? And what does the future of La Belle Province look like?GUEST: Lisa Fitterman, writing in The Walrus We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

The weather's getting colder, the kids are back at school, people are returning to work, and that means we're probably going to see more Covid. How much more depends on things like the efficacy and uptake of the new Omicron-specific vaccine, and people's adherence to preventative measures. With little appetite for the reinstatement of lockdowns, school closures or mask mandates, it may now be incumbent on individuals to make good choices to protect themselves and their loved ones. So what does it mean that provincial governments seem to have unilaterally decided that the pandemic is over? Without freely available data on Covid cases and deaths, how will we even know the level of risk in the community? And with the increasing specificity of Covid vaccines, could this be the last back-to-school where we even need to ask these questions? GUEST: Dr. Raywat Deonandan, Global Health Epidemiologist, and Associate Professor with the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences at The University of Ottawa  We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Every month or two, more Starbucks vote to unionize. In Canada, that fight is mostly spreading from west to east, with the first in Victoria, BC, and now others even in large Alberta cities. But why Starbucks? Why not Tim Horton's or McDonald's? What makes this coffee shop a good battleground for a labour movement that is gaining power?And how is Starbucks fighting back? Is service worker organizing inevitable, or can companies like Starbucks still halt the momentum?GUEST: Jeremy Appel, writing in Jacobin We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

They call it the "camel-toe toonie", and you will understand why as soon as you look at the front right paw of the polar bear on it. Since they were first discovered in circulation in 2020, estimates range from at least tens of thousands to likely millions of them reaching circulation.But who is behind it? How do you counterfeit toonies at scale and get them into the banking system? And ... why toonies?GUEST: Brent Mackie, creator of cameltoetoonies.ca, numismatist, treasurer of Waterloo Coin Society We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Pierre Poilievre, a leading figure in the CPC leadership race, engages with Jeremy MacKenzie, founder of the controversial Diagolon movement. They discuss the dual perceptions of Diagolon as both a joke and a serious ideology, exploring its roots in humor and extremism. The conversation reveals how the movement has grown, fueled by online interactions and recent protests. Additionally, they examine societal divisions, skepticism around government policies, and the targeting of journalists within this complex community, raising concerns among hate group observers.

It's called the Default Prevention and Management Policy. And for decades it was used to take control of budgets and finances away from First Nations leaders, and put them in the hands of "default managers" appointed by the government to supposedly better manage a community’s finances.Now an expansive investigation has examined just what happened in those communities that had financial control taken away. And in the vast majority of them...things got worse. In some cases, much worse. The government promised in 2017 to replace this policy — so far, without much action. Why?GUEST: Patti Sonntag, investigative and data journalist, working with a large team for Canada's National Observer We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Many of Canada's politicians spent their weekend condemning the behaviour of a man who angrily confronted Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in Alberta on Friday. The video, which includes screamed profanities as Freeland tries to board an elevator, went viral. But what Freeland experienced is just the tip of the iceberg.There's currently a targeted hate campaign aimed at female journalists, many of them racialized. The abuse and threats they are subjected to is unprintable. There are health care workers leaving the profession in droves, tired of constant harassment. Canada has a real problem on its hands, and asking ourselves "Is this really who we are?" isn't enough to solve it.GUEST: Fatima Syed, Vice President, Canadian Association of Journalists We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

HBO is really, really hoping that you streamed House of the Dragon last night. And Amazon is desperate for you to do the same with its Lord of the Rings prequel, Rings of Power, in September. These shows cost tens of millions of dollars per episode, at a time when the future of streaming platforms has never been cloudier.This year has seen layoffs, declining subscriber numbers for Netflix, a coming merger between HBOMax and Discovery+ and many other signs that after years of upward trends, the market is saturated. And what happens when the market saturates? Well, only the strongest survive.  It's a plot that wouldn't look out of place on HBO on Sunday nights.GUEST: Brian Steinberg, Senior TV Editor, Variety We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

It's one of the most beautiful places in Canada. It's also on a list of Places To Visit Before They're Gone Forever. But if the people who refuse to give up on their homes and businesses have anything to say about it, even soil erosion from rising sea levels won't claim their islands.They're using everything from lobster traps to sea barriers, moving what needs to be moved, to prove that even in the middle of a climate crisis, humans are adaptable and creative enough to save the places they love.GUEST: Taras Grescoe, writing in Hakai magazine We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Some United Kingdom supermarkets have done away with 'best before' dates on most of their products. Others are planning to follow their lead. Research shows that best before dates lead to food waste, as still-edible items are frequently tossed in the trash. And with food inflation making waste more costly, it seems like an idea worth considering...So a new survey asked Canadians just that. Would they buy products without best before dates? Which ones? Do they ever consume products past those dates? The results illustrate Canada's culture of food safety, but also the hypocrisy in some of our food decisions.(You can find the full survey right here.)GUEST: Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, co-host of The Food Professor podcast We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter