Front Burner

She's the teenager who skipped school — and sparked a global protest. Today, Greta Thunberg is instantly recognizable by her stern demeanour and singular message: When it comes to climate change, listen to the scientists. But it was only last year that she was an unknown 15-year-old, protesting outside Swedish parliament. In the time since, she's dressed down heads of state at the UN, inspired millions of people to march in the global Climate Strike, and been named Time magazine's Person of the Year. But in 2019, it wasn't just Greta and the youth movement she inspires — there were other large-scale protests, led by groups like Extinction Rebellion. Today on Front Burner, Jayme Poisson talks to the Washington Post science and environment reporter Sarah Kaplan about whether these movements can produce real change in the year to come.

This December, Front Burner hosted a live show at the CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. In this second part, host Jayme Poisson was joined by CBC personalities Peter Armstrong, Elamin Abdelmahmoud, Piya Chattopadhyay and Tom Power for a freewheeling news quiz.

This December, Front Burner hosted a live show at CBC’s Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto. In this first part, host Jayme Poisson was joined by CBC personalities Peter Armstrong, Elamin Abdelmahmoud and Piya Chattopadhyay to talk about the biggest news stories of the year.

Amazon is a giant company, but in reality, it's probably far bigger and involved in far more activities than most people are aware — think cancer research and police surveillance. Today on Front Burner, Wired writer Louise Matsakis, explains just how vast Amazon is and helps us grasp the implications of such a giant business. She brings insight into challenges that face Amazon, how the company could evolve in the future and why owner Jeff Bezos wants to colonize space.

In July 2018, a man went on a shooting rampage in downtown Toronto, killing two people and wounding 13 others. Now, a class-action lawsuit has been launched to sue gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson, alleging the company did not follow through on an earlier U.S. agreement to equip its handguns with smart gun technology that would restrict who can use the weapon. Today on Front Burner, we hear from one of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs and get a crash course in smart guns.

The war in Ukraine and U.S. military aid was central to this week’s impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump. That war has left roughly 13,000 people dead with many more injured and internally displaced. Today on Front Burner, CBC’s Russia correspondent Chris Brown will take us inside the conflict to explain why the U.S. military aid Donald Trump withheld had life and death stakes for the people who have lived through six long years of war.

The U.S. House of Representatives is scheduled to vote Wednesday on the articles of impeachment. President Donald Trump is expected to become just the third U.S. president in history to be impeached. But after the House vote, the proceedings move to the Senate, where there will be a trial. Today on Front Burner, CBC Washington correspondent Alex Panetta explains how some Republicans want the trial to be swift, while others are hoping for a full-on spectacle.

The "Afghanistan Papers," released last week by the Washington Post, contain hundreds of interviews with high-ranking officials involved in the ongoing 18-year war in Afghanistan. The documents reveal that many insiders knew the war was dysfunctional and unwinnable. That comes as no surprise to CBC's Murray Brewster, who spent 15 months on the ground in Afghanistan covering the war. Today on Front Burner, he describes Canada's role in the war, the challenges the Canadian military faced there, and why he thinks there are still important questions to be answered about this country's involvement.

It has now passed the one-year mark since two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, were arrested and detained in China. Both were accused by Chinese authorities of charges related to spying and stealing national secrets. Both were picked up mere days after Meng Wangzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech company Huawei, was arrested at a Vancouver airport in 2018. The ‘Two Michaels’ are still being held in detention centres where conditions are a far cry from Meng’s house arrest. Today on Front Burner, Jayme Poisson talks to the Globe and Mail’s Asia correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe about visiting the prisons where Spavor and Kovrig are being held, and what happens next with their cases.

Andrew Scheer is stepping down as leader of the federal Conservative party amidst a controversy over his use of party funds to send his kids to private school and growing criticisms over his election performance. Today, Jayme Poisson speaks with Power & Politics host Vassy Kapelos for insight on Scheer’s resignation and to find out what, and who, could be next for the party.