Front Burner

Many world-renowned ballet productions, from Swan Lake to Romeo and Juliet, have graced the stage of the legendary Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow since the 1800s. No matter what wars and revolutions the Russians confronted, the Bolshoi would find a way to stay open. That is, until COVID-19. The theatre closed down for six months this year because of the pandemic. It relaunched in the fall, and it's getting ready for a busy Christmas season. Today on Front Burner, CBC Russia correspondent Chris Brown on how the Bolshoi is handling the threat of COVID-19, as Russia deals with one of the highest coronavirus case totals in the world.

Last weekend NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and U.S. congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez raised over $200,000 US for charity by livestreaming a game called Among Us on the streaming platform Twitch for nearly six hours. Among Us is a popular space-murder-mystery multiplayer online game. About 100,000 people watched the livestream. Today, CBC senior writer and gaming columnist Jonathan Ore is here to fill us in on Among Us and Twitch and to explain how left-wing politicians are taking full advantage of these digital spaces. But can this tactic work for others?

On Monday, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the Liberal government will spend up to $100 billion to support the post-pandemic economy. The priority is, as Freeland says, to do “whatever it takes” to help Canadians, despite the record-high $381 billion deficit. CBC senior parliamentary reporter David Cochrane breaks down the details of the economic update, and tells us what critics had to say about it.

As Pfizer and Moderna's vaccine candidates get closer to being approved in countries around the world, many Canadians are wondering when they might be able to get a shot here. Prime Minister Trudeau has said most Canadians could be vaccinated by next September, but the details on when those vaccines may arrive in the country — and how they'll be distributed — remain hazy. The government is also facing questions about whether other countries could be way ahead of Canada. Two parliamentary reporters — CBC's J.P. Tasker and the Globe and Mail's Marieke Walsh — break down everything we know, and don't know, about Canada's vaccine rollout plan.

Last week, after a video of one of his speeches went viral, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had to address a growing controversy over “The Great Reset”. The term means different things to different people. To the World Economic Forum it’s a vague goal to make the world more equal and address climate change in the wake of the pandemic. To Conservative finance critic Pierre Poilievre it’s evidence of a “power grab” by “global financial elites”. And to others, it’s part of a baseless and wide-ranging conspiracy theory. CBC senior writer Aaron Wherry has been covering this story in Ottawa. Today he helps us sort the real economics and politics at play… from the conspiracy gaining traction.

Last January, Wuhan became the epicentre of the coronavirus. The Chinese city went under a strict lockdown for almost two months. The conditions were so severe that buildings were sealed off, and barricades erected. Today, the economy is booming again, but many people are still reeling from the trauma brought by the virus and the way it was managed. CBC Asia correspondent Saša Petricic travelled to Wuhan to better understand what life is like there now. He tells host Jayme Poisson about what he heard.

New details revealed by The Fifth Estate question the RCMP's timeline about the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history. It's been seven months since a gunman disguised as a Mountie went on a rampage, killing 22 people over 13 hours in Nova Scotia, travelling a distance of nearly 200 kilometres. Gillian Findlay joins Jayme to describe the fuller picture of what happened in that time, how the RCMP was one step behind the killer, and how the public was left in the dark.

In the first wave of the pandemic, Alberta was one of the provinces that seemed to have things relatively under control. Now, the province has daily case rates three times as high as Quebec or Ontario, and ICUs in Calgary and Edmonton have been hitting 90 per cent capacity. But Premier Jason Kenney hasn't addressed the province at a COVID-19 briefing for almost two weeks, and has resisted repeated calls for lockdowns from doctors and other experts. It's leading some Albertans to tweet the hashtag #WhereIsKenney. Today, Jason Markusoff of Maclean's Magazine joins us to talk about how Alberta got here, and what happens now.

Canada is spending a tremendous amount of money to get the country through the COVID-19 pandemic, but a growing movement says we can shed our old worries about the federal deficit. Modern monetary theory argues that since we control our own currency, the country can create more money and never go broke. Today, Front Burner examines this controversial idea and how it relates to Canada.

Vancouver mayor Kennedy Stewart wants to decriminalize small amounts of illegal drugs. If he gets his way, Vancouver will be the first Canadian city to do so. The move comes as overdose deaths continue to surge in Vancouver and across the country. CBC Vancouver producer Jodie Martinson has been speaking to drug users in the city. She’ll explain the significance and limitations of the possible change.