This Matters
by Toronto Star
The world is changing every day. Now, more than ever, these questions matter. What's happening? And why should you care? This Matters, a daily news podcast from the Toronto Star, aims to answer those questions, on important stories and ideas, every day, Monday to Friday. Hosts Saba Eitizaz and Ed Keenan talk to their fellow journalists, experts and newsmakers about the social, cultural, political and economic stories that shape your life.
Episodes
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Olympian Kingpin: The Hunt for Ryan Wedding
Guest: Calvi Leon, Staff Reporter In 2002, Ryan Wedding represented Canada an Olympic snowboarder. Today, the FBI describes him as a modern-day Pablo Escobar. Alleged to be the mastermind behind a massive, violent drug trafficking empire, Wedding is now the target of a global manhunt with a $15...
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A shadowy crypto-to-cash system is surging in Canada. Star reporters went undercover to reveal how it works
Guests: Toronto Star journalists Sheila Wang and Emma McIntosh A major joint investigation involving the Toronto Star, CBC/Radio-Canada, La Presse and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has uncovered more than 100 crypto-to-cash operations running across Canada, with many…
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Why so many skilled immigrants are leaving Canada
Guest: Ghada Alsharif, immigration and work reporter Canada's immigration system is often praised for attracting top global talent, but a new report shows the country is losing many of the highly skilled workers it says it needs most. One in five immigrants are leaving within 25 years of…
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Star investigations followed a Facebook drug ad and revealed how illegal drugs are being sold online in Canada
Guests: Toronto Star journalists Ben Mussett and Omar Mosleh A Toronto Star investigation uncovered a troubling loophole inside Meta's advertising system. Reporters Ben Mussett and Omar Mosleh found illegal drugs being advertised and sold to Canadians through paid Meta ads on Facebook and...
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The doctor is in, but over a million Ontarians are too far away
Guest: Megan Ogilvie, Toronto Star health reporter A new study has found that over a million Ontarians — that's more than one in ten people with a family doctor — live far outside their physician's region, often more than 30 kilometres away. Some are driving hours just to get a check-up. Others…
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If Canada went to war, could our hospitals cope? A simulation in Toronto revealed alarming gaps
Guest: Bruce Arthur, Toronto Star columnist In a high-stakes war games exercise held in Toronto, top military officials, health-care leaders, and government representatives gathered behind closed doors to game out a scenario few Canadians can ever imagine; war arriving on our doorstep. The...
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Behind the scenes of a narrow budget win for Mark Carney's Liberal government
Guest: Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa bureau chief Canada avoided a snap election Monday night as the Liberal government pushed its federal budget through by a two-vote margin, 170 to 168. Support from Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and two NDP abstentions proved decisive after intense pressure and...
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Dispatches from Texas: Trump's America up close
Guest: Richard Warnica, Senior Opinion Writer In this episode, we explore Richard's recent visit to Texas as a vivid microcosm of Trump's current America. He reports on cratering trust in vaccines, increasingly aggressive ICE arrests that are cleaving families apart, and the dismantling of public...
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Can One Great Idea fix Toronto?
Guest: Ed Keenan, Toronto Star city columnist Toronto has always been a contradiction; a city people fall in love with and get fed up with, often at the same time. This year, the Toronto Star explored those many shades in our Toronto the Better series, digging into the cracks, complexities, and...
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Listen: Exploring the human behind the hero, Canadian icon Terry Fox
Guests: Sean Menard, Toronto-based filmmaker and director of 'Run Terry Run' and Kirsten Fox, a director at the Terry Fox Foundation and Terry Fox's niece. Terry Fox is a Canadian institution. His crown of thick brown spirals, heathergrey 2.5 inch shorts, 'Marathon of Hope' shirt and prosthetic...
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Baseball is a game of failure. The Blue Jays and a nation of fans were winners.
Guest: Bruce Arthur, Columnist The Jays didn't win the world series on Saturday, after an extremely close loss to the LA Dodgers in the 11th inning - and the city is still reeling from a heartbreaking final result. Nearly 11 million Canadians tuned in on Saturday to watch the Jays try and take…
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What's the best neighbourhood for Halloween in Toronto? We reveal which parts of the city are spooktacular and which areas you should ghost
GUEST: Katie Daubs, Toronto Star reporter With Halloween landing on the same night as Game 6 of the World Series — and the Jays in it — Toronto is bracing for one of the busiest Fridays of the year. Whether you're heading out with the kids or planning to squeeze in some trick-or-treating before...
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How Ontario employers are getting away with $200 million in unpaid wages
Guest: Ghada Alsharif, Toronto Star immigration & work reporter A new report has revealed that workers in Ontario are being shortchanged by nearly $200 million in unpaid wages. It's called wage theft and, in many cases, workers aren't getting paid even after the province officially orders their...
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The Toronto Blue Jays at the World Series, an episode for bandwagoners and die hards
Guest: Mike Wilner, baseball columnist & host of Deep Left Field baseball podcast For the first time in 32 years, the Blue Jays have a shot at winning the World Series, with Game 1 against the LA Dodgers happening tonight. It's been a long road to get here: waiting for conditions to be just…
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Listen: Bill C-3 and who qualifies as Canadian
Guest: Nicholas Keung, Toronto Star immigration reporter A federal bill that could restore citizenship to people born abroad is drawing renewed political debate over who qualifies as Canadian and what rules should apply. Bill C-3 was introduced after a court found Canada's two-generation limit on...
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How E-bikes and scooters took over Toronto's streets
Guest: Ben Cohen, Toronto Star City Hall reporter Electric scooters weaving through sidewalks, e-bikes flying through intersections, and mopeds cutting into bike lanes have become a common sight in Toronto. The city is being rapidly reshaped by the rise of micromobility; fast, electric vehicles...
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10 years ago, the Jays lost the first two games at home. Then the bat - and script - flipped
Guest: Mike Wilner, baseball columnist & host of Deep Left Field baseball podcast The Blue Jays are currently battling the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series (or ALCS for short), the one that precedes the World Series. Getting this far in the season has Toronto whipped…
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The Worst Commute
Guest: Andy Takagi, Toronto Star transportation reporter Many of us know this pain too well: waiting on a very late bus or crawling between subway stations with no idea when we'll get to where we're trying to go. Long commutes can famously take a real toll on your quality of life and Andy Takagi…
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Inside Canada's biggest dark web drug bust
Guest: Omar Mosleh, Toronto Star reporter The RCMP says it has dismantled one of the largest dark web drug networks in Canadian history, a GTA-based group called RoadRunna that was allegedly shipping about 400 packages of drugs a week across Canada, including through Canada Post. Seven people…
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We look at the Jays ALDS matchup against the New York Yankees, plus we discuss the Blue Jays season with a special superfan and we open up the mailbag
In honour of the Blue Jays playoff run starting tomorrow, we're sharing an episode from our sister podcast Deep Left Field. Guest: RUSH frontman and Blue Jays fanatic Geddy Lee The Blue Jays are on the eve of their American League division series against the New York Yankees, which begins…
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Truth and Reconciliation and the reality of Indigenous homelessness
Guest: Steve Teekens, Executive Director, Na-Me-Res, a Toronto-based Indigenous-run non-profit that provides temporary, transitional and permanent housing Indigenous people make up less than one per cent of Toronto's population, but about 15 percent of the city's homeless. Nationally, they are...
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Has Big Tech rewired Gen Z?
Guest: Ava Smithing, advocacy director at the Young People's Alliance Young people today have been raised with the most powerful tools in human history at their fingertips. Entire childhoods have played out online, with algorithms acting as babysitter, therapist, and mirror through which they see...
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Why Toronto's garbage problem stinks for everyone
Guests: Star journalists Ben Spurr and Mahdis Habibinia The Star's City Hall bureau has been digging deep into the garbage with its Waste Not, Want Not series, examining how Toronto handles its trash and how the choices we make shape our city. In this episode, City Hall Bureau Chief Ben Spurr...
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Serial vandalism of Toronto speed cameras are about something bigger
Lately, speed cameras in this city and neighbouring cities have become a symbol and target of people's rage. The Parkside Drive speed camera was erected when this spot saw a horrific and fatal crash in 2021, due to speeding. It is now Toronto's most prolific speed cam and was recently cut down by...
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Why is Canada changing its immigration policy?
Guest: Nicholas Keung, Toronto Star Immigration Reporter Canada is quietly but significantly changing course on immigration. As the federal government moves to reduce the number of non-permanent residents, critics warn this may signal a harder shift in policy, with growing efforts to tighten…
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The cycle of Toronto's gun violence that statistics don't show
Guest: Jason Miller, Toronto Star crime reporter On Aug.16, eight-year-old JahVai Roy was shot and killed in his North York apartment when a bullet pierced his bedroom window. A teenager has since been charged, and Toronto police are looking for two more teen suspects. But for JahVai's family…
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Are Ontario's new stricter background checks hurting kids in care?
Guests: Star reporters Amy Dempsey Raven and Megan Ogilvie A new Ontario law was meant to protect vulnerable children in care, but it may be deepening the very crisis it set out to solve. The province has expanded police background checks for people working or volunteering in the child welfare...
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Talking TIFF at 50 with those in the know
This year marks TIFF's 50th anniversary. The festival has done many things over the years - it's been a bellwether for industry talent along with changing how movies are made and marketed. It's also really helped shape the identity of this city. Today we speak with two veterans who have been...
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Are financial landlords reshaping Toronto's rental market and driving evictions?
Guest: Manuela Vega, Toronto Star housing reporter A new study has found that financial landlords are filing eviction applications at much higher rates than other types of landlords in Toronto, especially after acquiring new buildings. In one case, more than half the tenants in a building…
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Elbows in? Why Carney pulled back on tariffs with Trump
Guests: Star reporters Raisa Patel and Josh Rubin Prime Minister Mark Carney is pulling back on Canada's trade fight with the U.S., dropping retaliatory tariffs on goods covered under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) even as Donald Trump escalates with new penalties on Canadian...
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Record enrolment, shrinking budgets. Why the math doesn't add up for Ontario universities
Guest: Kris Rushowy, Toronto Star reporter It's back-to-school season and Ontario universities are packed like never before. A record number of more than 84,000 first-year students are starting this fall. But even with record enrolment, schools are facing an $80 million shortfall. For years,...
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Young, qualified and still jobless in Toronto
Listen here or subscribe at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to your favourite podcasts. If you would like to support the journalism of the Toronto Star, you can at thestar.com/subscribe. Guest: Nathan Bawaan, Toronto Star reporter Youth unemployment in Toronto is at its highest...
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Long COVID, the pandemic that never ended for millions of Canadians
Guest: Kevin Jiang, Toronto Star reporter Nearly one in five Canadians who had COVID—more than more than 3 million people—went on to develop long COVID, also called post COVID 19 Condition (PCC). Symptoms can include fatigue, brain fog, breathing problems and heart damage, sometimes lasting for...
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Could Doug Ford's 401 tunnel fix gridlock or is it just tunnel vision?
Guest: Andy Takagi, Toronto Star transportation reporter Premier Ford says he's pitching an unprecedented plan to tackle one of the GTA's biggest headaches; gridlock on Highway 401, the busiest road in North America. His vision is a single three-level tunnel running under the highway, which could...
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What this family doctor wants you to know about Ontario's primary care crisis
Guest: Dr. David Barber, Chair OMA's General and Family Practice Two million people in Ontario do not have access to a family physician, and that number is expected to more than double by 2026. At the same time, many doctors are stepping away from comprehensive care, citing burnout, bureaucracy,...
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Inside the Premiers summit as Trump's tariff deadline looms
Guest: Star Queen's Park Bureau Chief, Robert Benzie Last week, Canada's premiers wrapped up their annual Council of the Federation meeting in Ontario's cottage country, against the backdrop of serious political and economic pressure. With Trump's threat of tariffs on August 1 looming large, and...
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Reflecting on the Hockey Canada sexual assault trial
Guest: Toronto Star court reporter Jacques Gallant All five former members of Canada's 2018 World Junior hockey team accused of sexual assault have been found not guilty, ending one of the most closely watched trials in Canadian sports. The case centred on a woman known publicly only as "E.M."…
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What ER doctors would never let their kids do
Guest: Toronto Star reporter Abby O'Brien A bike ride to the local pool. A perfect dive off the board. A backyard trampoline showdown with the kids next door. Childhood can be full of fun but also dangers. Parents often think about the obvious dangers, like unsupervised swimming or biking without…
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Disturbing errors at Ontario fertility clinics causing concern
Guest: Morgan Sevareid-Bocknek, investigative reporter Imagine you want a biological kid and you need the help of a fertility clinic. But then imagine they implant the wrong embryo inside of you. Or half the wrong embryo - right egg but wrong sperm. Or the child is a race you weren't expecting....
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How Ontario's cellphone ban played in classrooms and politics
Guests: Toronto Star reporters Isabel Teotonio and Kristin Rushowy With the summer break, Ontario is wrapping up the first full school year under new cellphone restrictions. Last September, the Ford government introduced restrictions on personal mobile devices in schools, with boards required to...
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Who's to blame when Toronto pools close during a heatwave?
GUEST: Star climate change reporter Kate Allen Toronto just sweltered its way through one of the most intense heatwaves on record. Many Torontonians seeking relief from the heat were met with disappointment and locked doors at more than a dozen public pools as they ended up being closed because…
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Are wildfires moving faster than Ontario can fight them?
Guest: Star climate change reporter Marco Chown Oved Wildfire season started early this year, with states of emergency declared in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and intense fire activity across Alberta. But while much of the national attention has focused on the west, Ontario is quietly facing a...
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This economic moment, according to the Bank of Canada
Guests: Deputy Governor of the Bank of Canada Sharon Kozicki and Star Business Reporter Ana Pereira Recently, the Bank of Canada announced their latest interest rate decision, holding it at 2.75% - its second pause after seven consecutive cuts. In attempting to explain this decision, Bank of…
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What Carney's big border bill could mean for refugees and civil liberties
Guests: Star Reporters Nicholas Keung and Mark Ramzy Introduced last week by the federal government—the Strong Borders Act seeks to overhaul how refugee claims are processed, expand powers for border and intelligence officials, and tighten enforcement—all framed as a response to sprawling asylum...
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Introducing the podcast, Arachnid: Hunting the Web's Darkest Secrets
This Matters is pleased to share a new podcast from the Toronto Star, TVO Podcasts, the Investigative Journalism Bureau and Piz Gloria Productions, Arachnid: Hunting the Web's Darkest Secrets. What if the worst thing that ever happened to you plays out countless times on anonymous computer…
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Sticker shock in the restaurant seats
Guest: Karon Liu, Toronto Star food reporter When one Toronto restaurant introduced a $25 cauliflower dish more than 10 years ago, it caused a bit of a stir at its eye-popping price. When Star reporter Karon Liu recently noticed the price of the same dish was now $41, it sent him to look at the...
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Breaking down Ontario's big spend budget as Trump's tariffs loom large
Guest: Queen's Park Bureau Chief Robert Benzie Ontario just dropped its biggest budget ever — $232.5 billion — and looming over every dollar of it is the shadow of Donald Trump, his tariffs, and an uncertain economic future. This year's budget also includes a new $5 billion "Protect Ontario" fund...
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What Mark Carney's new cabinet reveals about his leadership
Guest: Star National Columnist Susan Delacourt Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled his first cabinet. On Tuesday, ministers were sworn in at Rideau Hall to a trimmed down and reorganized cabinet, with 28 full members and 10 second-tier members, known as secretaries of state. Carney's campaign...
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Inside Mark Carney's high stakes visit to Washington
Guest: Ottawa Bureau Chief Tonda MacCharles Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to Washington this week was his first face-to-face meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump since being elected to office. A lot hangs in the balance, at a time when Canada's relationship with its largest trading…
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How the end of a pilot program for migrant food workers might affect your meals
Guests: Star reporters Nicholas Keung and Ghada Alsharif During the pandemic, they were called essential. Migrant workers who packed our meat, picked our produce, and kept grocery shelves stocked. In return, many were offered a pathway to permanent residency through a federal pilot program. Now,...
About this show
The world is changing every day. Now, more than ever, these questions matter. What's happening? And why should you care? This Matters, a daily news podcast from the Toronto Star, aims to answer those questions, on important stories and ideas, every day, Monday to Friday. Hosts Saba Eitizaz and Ed Keenan talk to their fellow journalists, experts and newsmakers about the social, cultural, political and economic stories that shape your life.
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