Shows / The Big Story
The Big Story
An in-depth look at the issues, culture and personalities shaping Canada today.
Episodes
- The Big Story
Why was Tonga's volcanic eruption so powerful?
You could hear it as far away as Alaska and the West coast. It was many, many more times powerful than an atomic bomb and the largest volcanic eruption in more…
- The Big Story
As Ontario nears a child care deal, can it help end the she-cession?
Every province and territory except Ontario has made a deal with the federal government on its affordable child care plan. And with an election looming most…
- The Big Story
Two years into a pandemic, not much has changed for migrant workers
The first summer and fall of the pandemic, foreign migrant workers who come to pick Canada's fruits and vegetables were experiencing some of the toughest…
- The Big Story
Is a fish fight brewing between the US and Canada?
British Columbia has put regulations in place to protect its dwindling salmon stocks, as fewer and fewer fish are returning to spawn. But those regulations…
- The Big Story
Gold, greed and lies at the Cordova mine
Investors — a lot of them — were told there was gold in the Cordova mine, and that's what they believed. But there wasn't. All that was there was a rundown…
- The Big Story
Universal health care is at a crossroads in Canada
Almost since the day the pandemic began, provincial leaders have promised more hospital and ICU capacity. They've promised hundreds of beds, thousands of…
- The Big Story
How an incident in PEI put hockey's changing culture on display
If Keegan Mitchell had just kept his head down and played hockey, none of this would have happened. And we'd all be worse off for it. But when the junior…
- The Big Story
Why are Toronto streets still so deadly?
Toronto's Vision Zero plan is now five years old. The city's residents are still waiting for it to work. On Boxing Day, the latest tragedy saw a car jump a…
- The Big Story
Will the federal government finally do right by First Nations children?
Fifteen years ago, a human rights complaint was filed against the federal government over their fundamentally unequal treatment of First Nations children in…
- The Big Story
The strange origin story of psychedelics in Saskatchewan
In the 1950s, before they fuelled the acid-trips of the '60s, psychedelics were being passed around the Weyburn Mental Hospital in Saskatchewan. And not just…
- The Big Story
Is a vaccine tax ethical? And how will we know when Omicron has peaked?
With hospitals under stress across the country, governments are pulling out all the stops to keep the health care system working. Ontario will allow…
- The Big Story
The long fight to bring a miracle drug to Canadians
It's called Trikafta, and people living with Cystic Fibrosis describe it as a true game-changer. It can treat symptoms at the source rather than manage them…
- The Big Story
What is virtual learning doing to Canadian kids?
This is not an episode about whether or not schools should be open. We've had that conversation. This is a discussion of what two years of on-again-off-again…
- The Big Story
Not even a pandemic can stop escalating CEO riches
A fresh annual report shows that by January fourth the average CEO of a top-100 Canadian company had already made the annual salary of the average Canadian…
- The Big Story
Wild pigs are one of the world's most invasive species. They're spreading across Canada.
It begins a couple of decades ago, with a Saskatchewan farmer spotting some black shapes sniffing around his crops. Today these wild pigs number in the tens of…
- The Big Story
One year after Jan. 6, is America headed for a civil war?
Last year's attack on the Capitol building by supporters of former president, Donald Trump, was a shocking scene. But it was merely a visual representation of…
- The Big Story
How close to the breaking point are our hospitals?
At least one group of hospitals has called a "Code Orange" this week as health care workers battle a tsunami of Covid-19 admissions. That's a protocol usually…
- The Big Story
Should humans try to dim the sun?
It's called solar geoengineering, and it's an idea being researched right now. If we can't blunt the impact of global warming with the measures available to…
- The Big Story
Tracking a Killer: The Cold Case of Elizabeth Bain
In June of 1990, 22-year-old University of Toronto student Elizabeth Bain disappeared. Her body has never been found, but police say it was a homicide…
- The Big Story
The Reheat: The world of celebrity sex tapes
Whether a publicity stunt or revenge porn, the celebrity sex tape has long been a salacious and voyeuristic fascination for the media and its subjects' fans…
- The Big Story
Inside the Hallmark holiday movie empire
If you're a Christmas movie person, then you already know Hallmark is a behemoth. But you might not know just how it became so dominant. It's a long story…
- The Big Story
A holiday thank you, from us to you
As The Big Story takes its annual (and long overdue in 2021) holiday break, the team answers some questions from Jordan and shares their memories of a very…
- The Big Story
BONUS: What do small businesses need to survive?
If you've heard any of our bite-sized interviews with small business owners, then you know they've faced closure so many times during this pandemic it's become…
- The Big Story
Lookahead: Will 2022 be the year of worker power?
From the great resignation to rising wages and the comeback of unionization, this was a year in which workers realized they don't have to take inhumane…
- The Big Story
Lookahead: Does Canada have a strategy for China?
It will be the biggest foreign policy question of the next year, and so far our government doesn't have a concrete answer. Canada will not send diplomats to…
- The Big Story
Lookahead: What will year three of the pandemic bring?
Hopefully, an ending! But we have hoped all along that the end was right around the next corner, only to be disappointed. It looks like we will enter 2022…
- The Big Story
Lookahead: Was 2021 a horrible fluke for BC? Or a preview of 2022?
The staggering toll on people and infrastructure over three separate climate disasters in British Columbia this year was highly unlikely, even considering the…
- The Big Story
Eating disorders are rising rapidly as the pandemic puts the lie to kids' 'resilience'
We've told ourselves this whole time that our children are resilient. Every missed event, virtual school session or socially distant celebration, we've clung…
- The Big Story
A terrifying new kind of fentanyl is spreading across Canada
It's referred to as "benzo dope", or even as "robbery dope" because it leaves its users vulnerable to theft or worse. It appears to be both more harmful and…
- The Big Story
Omicron vs. Vaccines, the booster shots rollout and more
We're starting to see some data on how well a two-dose vaccine series protects people from the omicron variant. It seems scary, but it actually might be…
- The Big Story
In New Brunswick, First Nations fight for historic title claim
After years of negotiations got them nowhere, last year, the Wolastoqey nations of New Brunswick filed a legal claim for title to their traditional lands…
- The Big Story
Inflation explained: From your pocket to Parliament Hill
In case you've been under a rock, or are rich enough not to care, ordinary Canadians (and people around the world) are paying a lot more for basic stuff like…
- The Big Story
Inside the cross-border hunt for a turtle smuggler
The package at the Calgary airport was ... moving. Inside were 11 baby turtles who never should have crossed the border. Who never should have left their New…
- The Big Story
What's the endgame for food delivery apps?
They've been around in one form or another for almost two decades. And the impact these apps have had on the restaurant business has been immense, and costly…
- The Big Story
What do we really know about the Omicron variant? And what's the best way to stop it?
It's only been a few days since the world learned of a new variant of Covid-19. There is a ton of data we don't have yet. But when the world's leading…
- The Big Story
How bad is it in BC right now? How much worse could it get?
Since the initial storm that caused severe flooding, mudslides, evacuations and forced the province to call in the armed forces, things haven't improved much…
- The Big Story
Why are French immigrants flocking to Quebec?
For centuries Quebec saw few, if any, immigrants from France. Over the past several decades that trend began to change, and in the past few years, it's been…
- The Big Story
From Peng Shuai to Kyle Beach, is sports ready to deal with the skeletons in its closet?
In 70 days, the Winter Olympics will open in China. Probably, everything will proceed as though it's a normal games. But maybe not. For the first time, many…
- The Big Story
Is the Smart City dream becoming a surveillance nightmare?
A few years ago, the world was dotted with proposals for utopian Smart Cities, like Toronto's Sidewalk Labs. One by one, those ambitious dreams were scaled…
- The Big Story
Why only dead Canadians will make us fund the military seriously
In January of 2020 one of Canada's senior military men warned that domestic deployments in response to weather events were stretching the military too thin to…
- The Big Story
Why it's almost impossible to clean up the ocean, but we have to try anyway
There are dozens, if not hundreds, of projects underway to get plastic out of the ocean. They range from hands-on cleanups of beaches (Canada's effort here is…
- The Big Story
Political parties are getting ruthlessly efficient at finding votes. Is it bad for democracy?
In September's election, the federal Liberals won the right to govern with the support of less than a third of voters, a record low for a ruling party. They…
- The Big Story
Why the car of the future might be more dangerous to cities
Everyone knows that in order to save the planet, electric vehicles need to replace internal combustion engines. And it's happening, at a more rapid pace than…
- The Big Story
Why Abbotsford, BC faces crushing floodwaters
A little more than a century ago, Abbotsford's Sumas Prairie was actually Sumas Lake. It might be about to return to that state, as massive storms, lake…
- The Big Story
Why Doug Ford thinks the PC's road to reelection is a highway
You may remember that focusing solely on transit and road messaging is something of a Ford family trademark. Ontario Premier Doug Ford's late brother Rob put…
- The Big Story
How did Yukon become Canada's latest Covid hotspot?
You would think we'd have learned this lesson by now—but alas. Yukon had one of the best records in Canada for managing the pandemic. Then they tried to go…
- The Big Story
You're not crazy. Toronto really is overrun by cannabis stores.
Try to walk just a few blocks in the downtown core without passing a cannabis retailer. Good luck! You'll probably pass at least two. Since the lottery process…
- The Big Story
Is Canada ready for the next massive earthquake?
We've known for some time that we're due for a massive earthquake—but it could happen tomorrow or 20 years from now. In geological terms that's roughly the…
- The Big Story
When will Canadian kids get vaccinated? And are oral Covid pills really a "game-changer"?
Almost one million American children under 12 have been vaccinated against Covid-19 since the FDA approved the shot more than a week ago. The Canadian total is…
- The Big Story
Missing White Women Syndrome, and why it never goes away
More than a decade ago, a Canadian researcher tracked local media coverage given to cases of missing Indigenous and missing white women. You can probably guess…
- The Big Story
Our border with the U.S. is (finally) open! How much of a mess will it be?
It's been more than a year and a half since Canadians could freely drive across the border to the United States — to visit friends and family, to see a game or…
- The Big Story
Can new defence minister Anita Anand fix the Canadian military's broken culture?
The minister who managed to secure tens of millions of Covid-19 vaccines gets the toughest job in government as a thank you. or much of the past year, barely a…
- The Big Story
Are Marvel releases still movies anymore?
The Eternals hits theatres today, and will no doubt earn Marvel Studios and Disney hundreds of millions of dollars. But is it really fair to call these things…
- The Big Story
World leaders unveil climate promises: "OK. But how?"
Amid a worsening climate crisis and reports detailing the need for urgency, world leaders took to the stage at COP26 this week to ... promise to do more. There…
- The Big Story
Health care workers are being attacked on the job. It's getting worse.
It's a problem that predates the pandemic—but eighteen months of a public health crisis has only made it worse. Every day nurses and emergency room staff in…
- The Big Story
How did Toronto's mayor end up in the middle of the Rogers family feud?
John Tory has a longstanding relationship with Rogers Communications Inc., as a previous executive and as a friend of the late founder, Ted Rogers. Toronto…
- The Big Story
How the "New Meth" took over North America's streets
Meth has always been a dangerous drug — but never this dangerous, users and social workers across the continent tell Sam Quinones in his new book. A new…
- The Big Story
How do you heat up a cold case?
Most cold cases ... stay cold. For every one that closes, and makes headlines, dozens or hundreds more are left languishing in files and databases. But…
- The Big Story
How an Ontario town became one of North America's anti-vax capitals
There are many communities and public health units across Canada where, for one reason or another, vaccination rates lag way behind other population centres…
- The Big Story
How a small Newfoundland town is handling a huge population boom
You probably know Bonavista best from the Canadian lyrics to "This land is your land". It's a town of a few thousand people on the far east coast of the…