The Big Story

How many strangers have you chatted with recently? Probably not a lot. And while your immediate reaction to that might be, "Great, I hate talking to strangers about nothing"—the research doesn't back you up. Casual small talk plays a larger role in our well-being than we assume it does, and most of us are doing much, much less of it these days. What does that mean for our happiness? And for our pathetic attempts at chit-chat once we emerge back into a world full of random social interactions? GUEST: Hannah Seo (You can read Hannah's piece 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

A year ago we never would have imagined that humanity could collectively change its work habits so quickly, or that governments could unveil ambitious national programs so quickly. We all saw a silver lining last Spring when the global shutdown brought with it clearer waters and skies and a record drop in emissions. If we're smart enough to harness what we've learned over the past 15 months, it could go a long way in the fight to keep our planet livable. If we don't ... we could end up right back where we started. Are we smart enough to apply pandemic lessons to the climate crisis? GUEST: Catherine Abreu, Executive Director, Climate Action Network Canada 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 Alberta Premier does not like restrictions, or telling people to stay home. His caucus likes that stuff even less. But the third wave of Covid-19, which is hammering Alberta thanks to looser restrictions than the rest of Canada, has left Kenney with no choice. Kenney hasn't been tough enough on restrictions to contain Covid-19, or loose enough to please his base. Now, more than a year into the pandemic he and his party trail Rachel Notley and the NDP in the polls. How did Kenney end up in a no-win situation? Where could he have taken a different path? And what does this mean for the future of his party and his province? GUEST: Jason Markusoff, Alberta Corespondent, Maclean's 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

We have a certain image of the sort of person who reports encounters with Unidentified Flying Objects. It's a ... skeptical image, to put it mildly. And it couldn't be further from the truth, at least according to the actual reports that are filed. And there are actual reports. Dozens of them. Filed by pilots and crew and air traffic controllers — not exactly the sort of people you'd expect to be claiming they saw a UFO in the sky. They report them, though. The question is what happens to those reports? GUEST: Daniel Otis, for Vice Canada 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

A year ago, as the pandemic's first wave began to recede, British Columbia was held up as a shining example of a large Canadian province that managed to beat back Covid-19. Its top doctor, Bonnie Henry, was a hero and even something of a celebrity. A year later, all that has changed. BC has been one of Canada's worst hit province's in the third wave, Dr. Henry's decisions are being second guessed, and a government that won a majority this past fall is no longer being hailed as the pinnacle of pandemic leadership. What happened? GUEST: Liza Yuzda, Legislative reporter, CityNews1130 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

In neighbourhoods like Peel in Ontario, South Asian-Canadians are being impacted by Covid-19 at a much greater number than their share of the population. At the same time, many have friends and family in India, which is facing perhaps the worst outbreak of the entire global pandemic. As South Asian-Canadians in hotspots try to navigate inequality at home, they're also desperate to help their loved ones overseas. Now that India's hospital system has collapsed, global aid is finally on the way. But will it be enough? How did things get so bad? What can Canada, and Canadians, do to help both a country in trouble, and our neighbours in despair? GUEST: Sabina Vohra-Miller, clinical pharmacologist, co-founder of the South Asian Health Network 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

You probably know already that most of the illegal guns in Canada come from the United States. But how much do you—or the police—really know about the long journeys they take to get here? Who's buying them and moving them? How do they get across the border? Why aren't more stopped before they can enter Canada? And how do they get from the border to the street to the hands of a would-be killer? A new documentary takes a look inside how the guns get here, and what might actually work to stop them. GUEST: Cristina Howorun, CityNews (You can watch The Gun Chase tonight on CityTV.) 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

A rare side effect has dominated the discussion of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Some people have used the potential for blood clotting as a reason to "hold out" for other vaccines, even as the wait leaves them vulnerable to Covid-19. How realistic are their fears? What are we learning about this side effect? And what could that learning do to help us understand the virus itself? GUEST: Roxanne Khamsi, independent science journalist 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

Today we revisit the van attack of April 23, 2018. It's been three years since a van mounted the sidewalk near Yonge and Finch in Toronto's north end, killing 10 and injuring 16. All it took was 7 minutes to terrorize a community and traumatize a city. Now we reflect on how the attack impacted the people who lived through it. We'll hear from first-hand witnesses, family members of victims, and people who didn't even think twice to jump right in the middle of everything and help those injured. If you would like to make a donation to the Anne Marie D'Amico Foundation visit their website. 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

Even people who have spent their lives covering governments of all stripes can't recall a week like the one Ontario's Progressive Conservative government has had. New restrictions, massive public blowback, and immediate reversal on some just-announced measures. Rising ICU numbers threatening to overwhelm the hospital system. Police forces publicly declining to enforce new tactics the government claimed would be implemented. Calls for Doug Ford's resignation. A mad vaccine appointment scramble. And now, a premier isolating after a close Covid-19 contact. That's not everything. It's just a handful of the strangest headlines. It's been quite a week in Ontario. We'll get an insider's take. GUEST: Cynthia Mulligan, Queen's Park Reporter, CityNews 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