Front Burner

“No one will be safe in Biden's America.” Donald Trump painted a calamitous picture of a Democrat-led U.S. as he accepted the Republican nomination on Thursday. Speaking for more than an hour, Trump also misrepresented his COVID-19 response before a crowd of around 1,500 people - few wearing masks. As the 2020 election campaign begins in earnest this week, CBC Washington correspondent Paul Hunter and senior Washington editor Lyndsay Duncombe join us to explain what Trump’s framing of ongoing national crises means for his re-election strategy, and whether he can beat the polls again.

Fans are grieving the loss of actor Chadwick Boseman, best known as the star of the groundbreaking blockbuster Black Panther. Boseman died on Friday, at the age of 43. According to his family, he was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2016. Boseman never spoke about that publicly, and the knowledge now of the diagnosis is giving new meaning to his work. Today on Front Burner, Rolling Stone senior writer Jamil Smith on Chadwick Boseman’s legacy.

On Wednesday, the Milwaukee Bucks refused to come out on the court, protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis. Soon after, other NBA teams followed — and so did other athletes in other leagues, from the WNBA to MLS to Major League Baseball. Subsequently, the NBA postponed games on Thursday, but officials said in a statement that they hope playoffs would resume this weekend. Today on Front Burner, Morgan Campbell, a senior contributor to CBC Sports, joins us to talk about the significance of this unprecedented act of protest in the sports world, and the pressure on Black athletes to push for social justice.

Alexei Navalny is the most prominent opposition figure in Russia, an anti-corruption crusader and a frequent Kremlin critic. But right now, Navalny is comatose in a German hospital after a suspected poisoning. Today on Front Burner, Chris Brown from CBC's Moscow bureau explains why Navalny might have been targeted, by whom, and the potential fallout.

The World Health Organization is urging the global community to join a pact by the end of this month, where wealthier countries would commit to sharing potential COVID-19 vaccines with developing countries, and with each other. It’s an attempt to stop countries from engaging in what the WHO calls “vaccine nationalism.” Today, CBC science and health reporter Emily Chung joins us to talk about what vaccine nationalism is, and why many health experts worry it could threaten the global response to COVID-19.

Over the weekend, German researchers held a concert with over 1500 music fans to study how COVID-19 could spread at big indoor events. Here in Canada, provinces are still capping numbers at indoor shows and many venues are staying closed. Some have permanently shut down. This has been a huge challenge for musicians, and performing artists more widely. Today on Front Burner, we convene a panel with two Canadians who work in the arts, and depend on live audiences for their livelihoods. Miranda Mulholland is a Juno-nominated fiddler and singer, label owner, and a musician’s rights advocate. Nour Hadidi is a professional stand-up comedian who has written for This Hour Has 22 Minutes.

Erin O’Toole was elected as the next leader of the Conservative Party of Canada in the early morning, on the third ballot. O’Toole’s victory wraps up an unprecedented race. But despite the obstacles presented by campaigning in a global pandemic, Conservatives participated in record numbers. Today on Front Burner, Power and Politics host Vassy Kapelos on O’Toole’s win and what it means for the future of the party.

B.C. recently hit its highest daily COVID-19 case count since the start of the pandemic, but the province isn’t going back into lockdown. The CBC’s Tanya Fletcher on why that is and what lessons that could provide for other provinces.

On Wednesday, U.S. president Donald Trump thanked QAnon conspiracy theorists for their support. This follows his move last week to publicly back a QAnon supporter who just won a Republican primary run-off in Georgia. The endorsement drew widespread criticism because QAnon is a baseless conspiracy theory built on an unfounded belief about a deep state group of elites who exploit children and are united against Trump. Kevin Roose is a tech columnist for the New York Times and host of the podcast Rabbit Hole. Today he explains why QAnon is a dangerous source of misinformation with the makings of a national security threat.

A global race for a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine is underway. More than 160 of them are in different stages of testing around the world. Canada is in this race too. A group of scientists at the University of Saskatchewan's VIDO-InterVac - the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in Saskatoon - are trying to get through a decade’s worth of testing and approvals as early as next year. Today on Front Burner, CBC Saskatoon reporter Alicia Bridges takes us inside a lab working on a Canadian COVID vaccine, and inside the lives of the scientists trying to find it.