Front Burner

Jonathan Cheng, Wall Street Journal China bureau chief, offers on-the-ground analysis of U.S.-China ties. He outlines how Xi’s consolidated power and China’s tech and green-energy push shape talks. He discusses trade, rare-earth leverage, and why top CEOs are tagging along. He also considers how the Iran war and personal dynamics between the leaders affect negotiation leverage.

Linda McQuaig, veteran journalist and activist known for critiquing corporate influence, discusses airport privatization in Canada. She explores why investors target airports. She contrasts nonprofit airport models with for-profit takeovers. She highlights examples like the 407 and UK rail to show potential cost and accountability problems. She proposes public alternatives such as expanded Canada Post services.

Tristan Harris, technology ethicist and co-founder of the Center for Humane Technology, warns about runaway AI and skewed tech incentives. He compares social media and AI, explains how profit motives shape harmful outcomes, outlines an anti-human future of concentrated wealth, and urges urgent government action and coordinated public response.

On the week where Alberta separatists should have been celebrating a major milestone on their quest to split the country apart, they are instead facing a police investigation and the anger of people across the political spectrum.Separatist group the Centurion Project released the names, addresses and phone numbers of all eligible voters in the province during a political recruitment gambit that could undermine their whole mission. We’re joined by Jason Markusoff who covers Alberta politics for the CBC. He’s going to talk us through what this all means for the future of Alberta's independence movement.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Ari Berman, voting rights correspondent and author on U.S. election history, joins to examine threats to the Voting Rights Act. He walks through the Louisiana ruling, racialized districting and how court shifts and political moves have weakened protections. The conversation highlights possible losses in Black representation and the long legal campaign reshaping American democracy.

Taylor Owen, Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications at McGill and advisor on online safety and AI policy, breaks down youth social media bans. He outlines policy options like age cutoffs and verification, discusses Australia’s mixed rollout and enforcement gaps, flags privacy and migration to darker spaces, and argues for design rules, temporary limits, and regulator-backed safety standards.

Robert Benzie, Queen's Park bureau chief at the Toronto Star, offers sharp inside reporting on Ontario politics. He walks through Doug Ford’s plunging polls and the backlash over the $28.9M jet. Short takes cover FOI changes, private phone controversies, school and post-secondary shifts, and whether opposition forces can exploit the moment.

Mike Isaac, New York Times tech correspondent who’s been reporting from the courtroom, walks through the high‑stakes legal clash between Elon Musk and OpenAI. He traces their early collaboration, the shift from nonprofit to profit, courtroom drama and testimony, and what the trial could mean for the AI industry and its competitors.

Kathryn Olmsted, distinguished history professor at UC Davis and author, explores false-flag operations and the roots of political mistrust. She traces historical cases of government deception, how traumatic events and social media fuel conspiratorial claims, and why influencers and partisan figures amplify doubt. The conversation looks at past abuses, wartime fabrications, and how to teach healthy skepticism.

David Wight, a lecturer and author who studies petrodollars and U.S.–Middle East finance, unpacks how oil priced in dollars became the backbone of global money. He traces the 1970s bargain with Saudi Arabia, the flow of dollar reserves and arms, countries trying to ditch the dollar, and whether alternatives like the yuan can really displace the system.