Front Burner

Federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion is investigating Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the Liberal government's decision to task WE Charity with administering a $900-million student grant program. On Friday, WE Charity stepped back from the contract, which had faced criticism because of the Trudeau family's close association with the charity. Today, CBC parliamentary reporter Catherine Cullen on the now-cancelled partnership, the surrounding controversy and why the ethics commissioner got involved.

Over 800 companies, including Microsoft, Lululemon, Pfizer and Canada’s five biggest banks are pulling their ads from Facebook this month. They’re just a few of the companies responding to the Stop Hate for Profit boycott, led by civil rights groups who want white supremacist content and misleading climate and vaccine information off the platform. Today on Front Burner, we talk to McGill’s Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications and Big Tech Podcast co-host Taylor Owen on whether a threat to the tech giant’s bottom line is the right incentive to deal with hate speech on the platform.

Today on Front Burner, CBC Washington correspondent Paul Hunter walks us through how the U.S. got to this point, President Donald Trump's role in it, and how even a mask has become a political statement.

On June 15, Maria Ressa, along with a former colleague of her news organization, Rappler, were convicted of ‘cyber libel’ in the Philippines. This, along with seven other charges, are widely seen as an encroachment on press freedom in the country by President Rodrigo Duterte’s authoritarian government. Today on Front Burner, a conversation with Maria Ressa on why she continues to pursue her journalistic work, despite possible jail time and the threats on her life.

Canada’s Supreme Court has sided with a former Ubereats driver in his quest to pursue a class action lawsuit against Uber. At the heart of that lawsuit lies a long-standing question: Should drivers become employees or remain, as Uber maintains, independent contractors? The latest ruling opens the door for that question to be answered - and with that, the potential for drivers to secure benefits that they are not entitled to right now. Today on Front Burner, we speak with labour law professor Veena Dubal on what this could mean for Uber drivers and the wider gig economy.

Saskatchewan has just become the first Canadian province to enact Clare’s Law, which aims to help prevent domestic violence by allowing police to warn people about a partner's violent past. But it’s already hit a stumbling block: the RCMP says it won’t take part. Bonnie Allen, a CBC national reporter based in Regina, walks us through the new law and talks about why it’s controversial – including among some anti-domestic violence advocates.

In 2016 a violent altercation with an off-duty Toronto police officer, and the officer’s brother, cost Dafonte Miller his eye. On Friday, officer Michael Theriault was convicted of assaulting the Black young man. An Ontario Superior Court Justice acquitted Theriault and his brother of aggravated assault and obstruction of justice, but called their justification of self-defence “razor thin.” Today on Front Burner, Miller’s lawyer, Julian Falconer shares his thoughts on the long path to that single conviction, and the fight Black Canadians face to get justice for police violence.

This is Not a Drake Podcast is a new series that uses seminal moments in Drake’s career to explore the history and evolution of hip-hop, R&B, and Black culture. It’s about the rapper who’s blurred genres and dominated the world stage, and the larger hip-hop movement that made him.The podcast dives deep into the evolution of gender dynamics in hip-hop, especially its relationship with Black women. More episodes are available at http://smarturl.it/notadrakepodcast

This week, the Toronto Raptors touched down in Florida. Soon, 21 other NBA teams will join them in the state, as the NBA gears up to restart the 2019-20 season in Disney World. Meanwhile, coronavirus cases are surging in Florida. More than a hundred pages of health and safety protocols have been established, covering everything from prohibitions on doubles ping-pong, to intensive testing procedures. Today on Front Burner, freelance NBA reporter Alex Wong walks us through how this is all going to work, and whether it's worth it.

In an exclusive interview with the National’s Adrienne Arsenault, Michael Kovrig’s wife is speaking out for the first time. Vina Nadjibulla says Ottawa could do more to get her husband - and Canadian Michael Spavor - out of jail in China. Both men were arrested in December of 2018 - just days after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was detained in Vancouver on behalf of American justice officials. Today on Front Burner, Adrienne Arsenault brings us more on Nadjibulla’s fight for her husband’s freedom - and how she is helping him stay resilient.