The Current

Most young people have heard the warnings about cancer and sun damage. Many of them are soaking up the sun anyway. Montreal dermatologist Dr. Ivan Litvinov says Gen Z may feel invincible, but they're not. So doctors need to find creative ways to get their message to land.

A new group of conservative politicians and academics is pushing back against the separatist movement in Alberta. They call themselves Lead Not Leave and describe themselves as "frustrated federalists.” We’re joined by two of the group's founders, former Alberta finance minister Travis Toews and Jared Wesley of the University of Alberta to discuss the source of Alberta's grievances, and how they plan to counter the separatist movement.

Is your job all about meetings? And emails? And meetings that should have been an email? Some corporate workers say the pandemic pulled back the curtain on “bullshit jobs.” And now with a worsening economy and the threat of AI disruption, they’re left wondering what value and meaning there is beyond the paycheque.

SpaceX is going public with a sky high valuation of over $1 trillion. Max Chafkin, a reporter with Bloomberg, and the co-host of the podcast “Everybody’s Business” breaks down what this could mean for the larger economy and for investors.

In any given year, 1 in 5 Canadians suffer from a mental illness. Now there are growing calls to include counselling and psychotherapy in our publicly funded system. We speak with Jaden Dulle who struggled with depression and PTSD in his early twenties and went into debt paying for counselling, and two experts who weigh in on the current system, how it's addressing the mental health crisis, and whether publicly funded mental healthcare is the answer.

As the conflict between Hezbollah and Israel escalates, we hear from people in Lebanon about how the fighting is affecting their lives. From Israel, political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin describes the sense of insecurity among Israelis, especially along the border, pushing the government's actions.

At a moment when there's a growing backlash and resistance against the AI that's starting to permeate so many parts of our life — tech journalist Joanna Stern went all in. She decided to  see what would happen if she spent a year using AI in almost every part of her  life. She used it to communicate, to help her plan her dinners, to track all her conversations. And she even created an AI boyfriend named Evan. The results of the experiment are in her new book, I Am Not A Robot: My Year Using AI to do (Almost) Everything.

Sealtest’s six per cent milk has hit the dairy aisles in Ontario grocery stores. With nearly twice the fat found in whole milk, it’s a staple in South Asian recipes. US President Donald Trump has promised to reintroduce whole milk in the United States’ school lunch programs, but Health Canada advises lower-fat options for ages above 2-years-old. We speak with Anika Dhalla, a South Asian registered dietician, about the dairy aisle’s new addition and the trend towards whole milk

E-bikes come with a lot of benefits. Zero emissions and a quick convenient way to get around town. But a growing number of critics say they pose serious danger to riders and the public. We talk to Vancouver lawyer Michael Parrish about the legal grey zone around e-bikes and to Dr. Louise McNaughton-Filion, who led a review of e-bike deaths for the Ontario Office of the Chief Coroner.

Montreal is the gourmet capital of Canada, and the cookbook author and former restaurant critic Lesley Chesterman is an evangelist for the food culture of her hometown. For decades, she has been writing about what makes Montreal food great, from the bagels and smoked meat to the restaurants, markets, patisseries and cheese shops. Now, she wants you to cook like a local. We talk to her about her new book, A Montreal Cookbook: Recipes and Reflections From My Kitchen.

Canada, the U.S. and Mexico are due to review their three-way trade deal July 1 — but one month out, how are things looking for this country? Former acting U.S. Trade Representative in President Trump's first term, Stephen Vaughn, shares the American perspective; and Brian Clow, who handled Canada-U.S. relations as deputy chief of staff to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Jacques Shore, partner at law firm Gowling WLG and expert on international trade, map out the potential path forward for Canada

Russia is warning foreigners to leave Kyiv in order to avoid a coming assault. But Ukrainian MP Inna Sovsun and Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza say Ukraine and its allies should not be intimidated.

Sharlene Rochard is an Epstein survivor and the only Canadian to come forward publicly with allegations against him. She says the abuse started when she was a teenage model and continued into her 20s. But it took her more than two decades to confront what happened. The Documentary: Butterfly is a look at how she found her voice and her push for accountability.

The fight for an Uber union in Canada has been years in the making – this week drivers in Victoria, British Columbia ratified a deal, the first of its kind in Canada. A look at what they fought for and what this contract could mean for app-based workers across the country.

Grip strength might seem like a small thing, but researchers say it can reveal a lot about how we age. Health and fitness journalist Alyssa Ages explains why grip strength is linked to longevity, what it actually reflects about the body, and how to maintain strength in realistic, everyday ways.

Matt Galloway sits down with British Columbia Premier David Eby to discuss pipelines, property rights, and his province’s relationship with Ottawa and neighbouring Alberta.

As B.C. Premier David Eby contends with a potential Alberta pipeline, he’s also facing questions about Indigenous land rights, and other policies he’s had to roll back. On top of this, the B.C. Conservatives are picking up steam as they get set to elect a new leader this weekend. Katie DeRosa, CBC’s provincial affairs reporter in B.C., and Rob Shaw, political correspondent for CHEK News in Victoria, take a close look at the complex political picture in the province.

Adélie penguins are the smallest and most widespread penguin species in the Antarctic, and one place you find them is Cape Royds. Conservation biologist Louise K. Blight is one of very few people who's spent time in the remote field camp in Cape Royds, living alongside those penguins, and doing field research. We’ll talk to the author of “Where the Earth Meets the Sky: A Story of Penguins, People, and Place in Antarctica," about the magic and mystery of Antarctica, the power of solitude, and what it’s like to be courted by an emperor penguin?

Sidewalk Talk in Victoria is a community listening group that’s on a mission to help people in the city foster human connections and a sense of belonging. We chat with one of the group’s volunteers about why talking with strangers is so important and how being a good listener is a skill that needs to be practiced.

There were reports on the weekend about an imminent deal to end the U.S. war with Iran — but those hopes were dimmed by fresh airstrikes Monday. What’s happening with talks between Washington and Tehran? And what does it mean for the war between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon? Guest host Catherine Cullen talks to Gregg Carlstrom, Middle East correspondent for The Economist; and Hussein Ibish, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, D.C.

The World Health Organization's director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, warned the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is outpacing response efforts to contain the virus. We speak with Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency physician and public health professor at Brown University, who contracted Ebola while treating patients in west Africa in 2014. He says the dismantling of US aid and CDC response teams have hampered efforts to detect and contain this latest outbreak.

Artist and coder Kyle McDonald has created an apocalypse early warning system. It tracks billionaires' jets to see if they are fleeing to their private doomsday bunkers. If the end really is upon us, it won't save you. (The super rich will probably be toast too.) But he hopes the social commentary it provides might make you feel less helpless and nudge you to do something about the mess he says we're in.

Harvard University recently capped the number of As received by undergraduates in an effort to curb grade inflation. In Canada university admission averages have been climbing for years. There's been a surge in A+ high school students. Do grades still reflect merit? We hear from Christopher DeLuca, professor of educational assessment at Queen’s University, and Darja Barr, a senior instructor in mathematics at the University of Manitoba who has studied the connection between high school grades and achievement in first year university.

For the past four decades, world renowned biologist Nalini Nadkarni has risked her life studying trees. In 2015, she fell from a 50-foot bigleaf maple tree in the Olympic Peninsula. She tells The Current host Matt Galloway what her recovery from that catastrophic fall taught her about resilience and trees.

Prime Minister Mark Carney is warning Albertans voting Yes to holding a second referendum on separation is a "dangerous bluff." Our national affairs panel looks at how the ballot question is impacting Alberta and the rest of the country.

For police officers, trust is key. But in places like Ottawa, the greater Toronto area, and Winnipeg, investigations into the police are eroding that trust. A look at what's been happening with police and what it could take to get that trust back.

There's an AI data centre boom in Canada. Advocates say they're necessary for Canada's sovereignty and prosperity. Critics say they're noisy and terrible for the environment. In one Alberta community, a group of farmers fought an AI data centre and won. We speak to writer and journalist, Luc Rinaldi, who wrote about this fight and one of the farmers at the heart of it.

About six million Canadians fill prescriptions for antidepressants. And now, SSRI’s are coming under increasing scrutiny with a push to curb psychiatric drugs in the United States.. We discuss the latest, evidence-based research on depression about what we know - and don’t know - about its causes, and whether the drugs prescribed to treat it are still the best option.

The U.S. paused their participation in the US-Canada Permanent Joint Board on Defence this week — something which has been around since 1940. Former Canadian Conservative Leader, Erin O'Toole explains what this was, why this matters and what might come next.

Have you noticed more people scrolling through social media in public, oblivious to those around them, with the volume full blast? It is something that Henry Luzzatto has. He wrote about it for a recent article in Slate called “What Kind of Person Would Dare to Watch TikTok Out Loud on Public Transit? I Can Tell You First Hand.” Henry Luzzatto on why he thinks more people are listening to videos out loud in public.

Many of the Earth's scents are fading away or disappearing altogether because of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. Journalist Serena Jampel says we'd likely find the loss of memory-evoking smells, like lavender or vanilla, tragic. But some scents under threat, like frankincense, also have deep cultural meaning.

There's a growing backlash against AI worldwide. In China this is reflected in daily life by the sense of precarity felt by workers. There's a deep unease at the speed of technological disruption that's reflected in culture, online life, and a collective nostalgia — much of which is likely familiar to many people in North America. We talk to journalist Yi-Ling Liu, the author of the book "The Wall Dancers: Searching for Freedom & Connection on the Chinese Internet" about how people in China are responding to AI — and the parallels between the Chinese and American experience of AI.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is ending after more than a decade on air. Colbert was known for his jabs at global politics and US President Donald Trump, as well as light-hearted humour sprinkled between conversations about grief and his faith. Matt Galloway speaks with Sophia McClennen, the author of the book “Colbert’s America: Satire and Democracy” and “Trump was a Joke: How Satire Made Sense of a President Who Didn’t.”

The PWHL Victoire won the Walter Cup, the Habs are in the NHL Eastern Conference finals, and Montreal has Hockey fever! Sport columnist and Montrealer Meeker Guerrier on the sport that’s taken over his city.

New estimates from the federal budget watchdog show that the Canadian government will spend more than a billion dollars to host the World Cup in Toronto and Vancouver. We hear from businesses, sports fans and experts about whether the public money spent will actually give Canadians a fair return.

A new study out of SickKids is opening a window into how scientists understand autism. Researchers have identified a previously overlooked gene linked specifically to the social interaction and repetitive behavioural traits associated with autism, a discovery they say could help improve genetic testing and eventually lead to more targeted therapies. Dr. Stephen Scherer, senior scientist and chief of research at SickKids, discusses what makes this finding so significant.

In the first three months of this year, more than 37,000 people filed for insolvency in Canada — the highest number of consumer insolvencies since during the financial downturn in 2009. We hear from a Canadian on how he fixed his own personal financial crisis.

On Sunday, the World Health Organization declared the ebola outbreak in Congo and Uganda "a public health emergency of international concern".  We speak with infectious disease correspondent, Helen Branswell with Stat News, and Dr. Joanne Liu, a physician and professor at McGIll University's School of Population and Global Health, and former International President Médecins Sans Frontières, who led the international response to the West African Ebola epidemic from 2014-2016.

Podcaster, professor and entrepreneur Scott Galloway believes young men are struggling with feelings of alienation, loneliness, and failure. And that's a danger to all of us, especially when they buy into the dangerous rhetoric they hear online. We talk to him about his book, Notes on Being a Man, what he's learned from his own life, and why this is such a passionate mission for him.

Scientists are warning Canadians to get ready for a U.S. tick invasion this year. We hear from Patty O'Brien-Carrier from Maine who developed a severe meat allergy after being bitten by a lone star tick and Nicoletta Faraone, the director of the Canadian Tick Research and Innovation Centre, about the ticks to watch out for and how to protect yourself.

Dawson City, Yukon’s iconic tavern, the Westminster Hotel, aka “The Pit,” was destroyed in a fire. The building dates back to 1898 and was a beloved community hub. One of the bar's longtime managers Heidi Bliedung, on what The Pit meant to Dawson City and how they will move forward following the fire.

Turns out, Canadians are spending less and less time with their friends and many don’t have a friend group. What does it mean if we don't have a close friend group — and how can we approach making new friends? We’ll explore that with Philip Howlett, a friendship researcher and lecturer at the University of Bath.

The London Zoo will open a hospital where people can watch vets treat animals — from checkups to post-mortems. Zoo consultant Sarah Spooner says that kind of public engagement helps boost conservation and helps zoos stay relevant. But environmental author Emma Marris says zoos can't justify the harm they do to animals and we've outgrown them, even if we don't realize it yet.

Everywhere you turn, there's a distraction, and the evidence suggests we're all reading fewer books. Some have described it as a "crisis". We speak to one young Canadian who's turning that around, BookTok and podcast host, Morgann Book. We'll also speak with Gregor Campbell, a long-time English professor at the University of Guelph on what he has observed in the classroom, and Jonathan Jarry, a science communicator with McGill University's Office for Society and Science who puts the "reading crisis" in perspective.

Wildfire season has started in some parts of the country. We speak with David Noyes, the mayor of Sandy Beach, Alberta, where a wildfire destroyed three homes earlier this month; Chief Ken McMullen, the President of the Canadian Association of Fire Chiefs and Mike Flannigan, a wildfire researcher, about what to expect from this year’s wildfire season

In an increasingly polarized world, Dr. Lafontaine says the best time to work through our outrage was yesterday. A close second, however, is right now. His new book, "The Outrage Cure," is about what happens when we let unresolved anger metastasize — and how we can best confront it. If you've had a falling out with someone you love that you're struggling to make sense of, this conversation is for you.

The U.K. has shuffled through several Prime Ministers in the last ten years before finally landing on Keir Starmer in 2024, but after his Labour Party suffered a major local election loss last week, some in his own party are trying to push him out. Piya Chattodpadhyay speaks to the host of the BBC podcast, Newscast, about where this leaves the island nation.

Scientists with the SuperAging Research Initiative are studying a group of superagers - people 80 and up who have the memory of people half their age - to understand what helps them stay sharp. We speak with Morry Kernerman, a lifelong violinist who’s 101 years old, and still hiking, travelling and teaching music, and with Angela Roberts at Western University in London, Ont., who’s leading the study in Canada, about how biology and lifestyle contribute to aging well.

Three energy watchers dig into what's expected out of today's anticipated carbon policy agreement between Ottawa and Alberta: Martha Hall Findlay, director of the University of Calgary's School of Public Policy and former climate officer at Suncor Energy; Sonya Savage, former energy minister under Jason Kenney and former environment minister under Danielle Smith; and Rachel Doran, executive director of Clean Energy Canada.

Princeton professor Thomas Levin has collected the world's only collection of 'voice letters' -- small records that could be recorded on-the-spot in the 1930s, 40s and 50s, and then sent through the mail to friends and loved ones. From passionate love notes, to messages home from soldiers, to tourist diaries from world travellers...these notes allowed many people to record their voices for the first time ever. Levin explains how he searches through online auctions and flea markets to uncover these ghostly voices from the past, and what we can learn from them.