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The Current

Author: CBC

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Three stories to expand your worldview, delivered daily. Matt Galloway cuts through a sea of choice to bring you stories that transcend the news cycle. Conversations with big thinkers, household names, and people living the news. An antidote to algorithms that cater to what you already know — and a meeting place for diverse perspectives. In its 20 years, the Current has become a go-to place for stories that shape and entertain us. Released daily, Monday to Friday.


Some of the topics we’ve covered recently, include: Donald Trump’s threat of tariffs and the impact they could have on Canadian businesses and consumers; the bids to buy TikTok; the future of public broadcasting; undocumented migrants living in fear of mass deportations; political foreign interference and alleged traitors in parliament; China’s new AI chatbot DeepSeek; the family doctor shortage; the Israel-Hamas ceasefire; the humanitarian crisis in Gaza; climate change and the cost of rebuilding after wildfires in Jasper and L.A.; the impact of social media on children; tackling homelessness and the housing crisis; Donald Trump’s second term and sweeping executive orders, including tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and threats to annex Canada; Justin Trudeau’s resignation and proroguing parliament; federal and provincial politics; provincial premiers and their politics; Ontario’s provincial election and incumbent Doug Ford; Canadian patriotism, boycotting U.S. goods and efforts to buy Canadian; truth and reconciliation; water sovereignty; science and disinformation; the cost of veterinary bills; a rise in vasectomies; the best places to vacation in Canada; how tariffs are affecting U.S.-Canadian relations; reckoning with the Holocaust; provincial premiers and their politics; big banks backing out of climate initiatives; relaxed regulations on drones; nature and your mental health; a conservation win for marine life; migrant workers in limbo over stalled visas; age verification for porn sites; alcoholism and ‘grey-area’ drinking; Donald Trump’s threats around tariffs, retaking the Panama Canal and annexing Canada to make it the 51st U.S. state; Elon Musk’s influence on world politics; rogue waves, methanol poisoning and other risks on vacation; the opioid crisis and drug dealers targeting teens; personal finances; weight loss drugs like Ozempic; women’s health; consumer rights and competition in Canada; mortgages and interest rates; the flow of fentanyl across the U.S.-Canada border; the fall of the Assad regime in Syria; the influence of Taylor Swift; the fatbergs floating through our sewers; and the movies, books and culture that have something to say about the world around us. 


Some of the stand-out guests we’ve had on recently: Basketball star Demar Derozan; comedian Mark Critch; Liberal leadership frontrunner Chrystia Freeland; addictions advocate Scott Oake; Sapiens writer Yuval Noah Harari; Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha; CBC’s new CEO Marie-Philippe Bouchard; UK actor Idris Elba; Chef Yotam Ottolenghi; Fashion journalist Jeanne Beker; On Tyranny author Timothy Snyder; former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew; Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, author and former spouse of the Prime Minister; Alberta Premier Danielle Smith; Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell; godfather of AI Yoshua Bengio; Xena star Lucy Lawless; bestselling author and Prof G Pod host Scott Galloway; Trump nephew and critic Fred Trump III; former prime minister Joe Clark; The Certainty Illusion author Tim Caulfied; Indigenous author Tanya Talaga; tech insider and Pivot podcast host Kara Swisher; and NWT Premier R.J. Simpson.


The Current is produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada — and has recently recorded live shows on location about Canadian identity in Saskatchewan and fears around tariffs at the U.S.-Canadian border in Windsor, Ont.

1815 Episodes
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The Trump administration's abrupt USAID funding freeze has created chaos in global humanitarian work, including efforts to fight diseases like HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria. The New York Times’ global health reporter Stephanie Nolen lays out the immediate and long-term impacts on people whose health depended on that aid.
The number of kids missing school has grown since the pandemic, causing alarm bells at school boards across Canada. We look at the complicated web of reasons that students can fall into chronic absenteeism, and what parents and teachers can do to help. 
The federal government has recognized the Haida Nation's Aboriginal title over the islands of Haida Gwaii. Matt Galloway visited the archipelago off the coast of B.C. last year, and spoke with three generations of a Haida family who have fought to protect their land and culture. 
Faye Dickieson from Alberton, P.E.I., spent 35 years trying to conquer her insomnia with sleeping pills, but they never worked. What ended up helping was something she had never heard of  — cognitive behavioural therapy. We hear from sleep experts about why it’s considered the best treatment for sleepless nights and how you can access it.
NATO leaders are shocked by U.S. Vice-President J.D. Vance's recent beratement of European allies at the pivotal Munich Security Conference. As the U.S. recedes, there are questions about who will fill the void as Russia continues to flex its influence around the world. Matt Galloway talks to Kerry Buck, former Canadian ambassador to NATO, about the potential impact on Ukraine’s long-term security, the alliance’s unity and what Canada should do next.
Tensions are high as Canada, the U.S., Finland and Sweden battle for supremacy at the star-studded 4 Nations Face-Off. Arpon Basu, editor-in-chief of the Athletic Montreal, says this best-on-best hockey exceeded his expectations and is a significant moment for Canadian pride. Today, Canada hits the ice with hopes of securing a spot in Thursday's championship game. 
Jonathan Haidt says technology and social media have rewired our children’s brains, and taken a heavy toll on their mental health. In a conversation from December, the social psychologist spoke to Galloway about his blockbuster book The Anxious Generation and the dangers of a childhood spent on screens.
Former Prime Minister Joe Clark is writing to his friends in the U.S., reminding them of their country’s long friendship with Canada. He’s urging other proud Canadians to rally around the flag and reach out to their American connections, because he says not everyone there supports U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats about tariffs or making Canada the 51st state.
Trump has dominated much of the discussion in Ontario’s provincial election, forcing issues like health care and housing to take a backseat. We discuss what’s been happening on the campaign trail, the imminent live debates, and why Premier Doug Ford called this snap election in the first place with our provincial politics panel: the CBC’s Mike Crawley, the Toronto Star’s Robert Benzie and the Globe and Mail's Laura Stone.  
Canada’s flag is celebrating its 60th anniversary — at a time when Canadians are feeling especially patriotic. We dip into the archives to hear how the red-and-white maple leaf design came to be.
A sauna feels nice on a cold winter’s day — but what do we know for sure about the benefits? Matt Galloway talks to filmmaker Anna Hints about sauna culture and asks Dr. Peter Attia what sweating it out does for our health and longevity.
Some tech and business leaders are calling for radical change in Canada's economy to protect against Trump’s tariffs and other future threats. Matt Galloway talks to entrepreneur and former Shopify executive Daniel Debow, who is part of a new group called Build Canada; and Benjamin Bergen, president of the Council of Canadian Innovators.
U.S. President Donald Trump seems preoccupied with South Africa. He’s offered asylum to white farmers who say they’re facing racial discrimination there, is skipping the G20 in Johannesburg and has restricted all aid to the country. The Globe and Mail's Africa Correspondent Geoffrey York explains why Trump has South Africa in his sights — and how much it has to do with Elon Musk.
The high cost of housing (and life in general) is forcing many young people to move back in with their parents, if they ever moved out in the first place. Maclean's journalist Claire Gagne looks at what that means for both the young adults stuck in their childhood bedrooms, and their parents’ hopes and dreams for retirement — and perhaps an empty nest.
U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said that it’s “unrealistic” that Ukraine will regain key land taken by Russia or join NATO as part of any peace settlement. We hear how Ukrainians are reacting to that news, and whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be sidelined after U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge that peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin will start “immediately.”
Some Canadian cities are hiring family doctors as municipal employees, taking over the paperwork so the physicians can focus on their patients. Could this novel model help to ease the family doctor shortage across Canada?
Kate Gies was born missing an ear, and underwent more than a dozen surgeries by the time she was 13. In her new memoir, It Must be Beautiful to be Finished, she writes about growing up feeling that her body was always something that needed to be fixed — and why she finally said enough was enough.
A new state-of-the-art recycling centre in Montreal aims to make the process easier, and hopefully greener. We look at how effective recycling actually is — and whether it inadvertently leads consumers to create more waste.
Parents may pleasantly puzzle over the “goos” and “gahs” that their babies make, but now researchers say that baby talk shares patterns with the songs of humpback whales. What can that teach us about how children learn to talk, and how language evolves more broadly?
Tariffs on steel and aluminum will impact steelworkers in Sault Ste. Marie, but the city’s Mayor Matthew Shoemaker says they’re also a surefire way of “making America more expensive again.” Matt Galloway talks to Shoemaker and international trade lawyer John Veroneau about what U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to achieve, and what happened when he imposed similar tariffs in 2018.
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Comments (90)

G

Would live to share, Matt. Please share Bluesky link. FB/Twitter not reliable. Thanks.

Feb 4th
Reply

David Schaefer

less then $22 an hour. and your focusing on businesses. you try surviving on $22 an hour.

Nov 21st
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Giselle Buchanan

Matt, let people speak. Asking closed questions,interrupting...sounds like a bad lawyer badgering a witness. Relax.

Feb 6th
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km

Oh yeah sure, AI solves everything. 🤦‍♂️ well, the "Intelligence" of Canadian economists certainly wasn't enough. ~14:00.

Aug 31st
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km

Canada is doomed. Young Canadians can't even manage.

Aug 31st
Reply

David Schaefer

BS hahaha 😆 west jet is a bs artist. go ahead cbc, let him blow smoke up everyone's ass.

Jan 14th
Reply

Ali Moghaddam

please help Iranian people. we are being killed easily. help us 😭💔

Sep 23rd
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Dennis Mayer

The questions asked in this interview are annoying. You soften her up with questions about the challenges women face to get to the top level, then you grill her about whether she feels bad about what she has been selling or that she makes 31MM vs a minimum wager??? What do you want from her? Who do you think you're talking to, some environmental, health and equity advocate? She's a capitalist, a successful one, and she did her job well. She wasn't being paid to change the world at PepsiCo, but she did make some improvements. Move on - annoying.

Aug 21st
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km

Read "The War on Normal People" by Andrew Yang. and, #HumanityFirst

Feb 13th
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km

"everyone's replaceable right?" The psychopathy of our modern Western culture runs deep.

Feb 13th
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Eric Lauzon

So dissapointed to hear our Polticians lie like this. Prtoesters have been nice and peaceful and thats from someone who lives downtown Ottawa

Feb 9th
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Ted treller

A very naive appreciation for issues and the interpretation of those issues. My goodness while I appreciate the persistence of CBC to visit the area but an absolute misunderstanding of the history and realities of Eastern Ukraine.

Jan 23rd
Reply

C W

Sweet ending.

Nov 29th
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km

This is a horrifically whiny interview.

Nov 16th
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km

YouTube "Roger Hallam" and "Facing Future". It gets worse.

Oct 11th
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Midnight Rambler

no it's a tragic event. but the left wants to make every tragic event into Martyr

Oct 7th
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km

Things aren't looking good... YouTube "Roger Hallam"

Sep 21st
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Midnight Rambler

this guy loved toxicity during the trump years. but under Biden we need to heal..🤣😆

Sep 7th
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km

The economists here continue to normalize psychopathy. Current economic thinking is an absolute joke. YOU HAVE NOTHING if you don't have a liveable climate you god damned fools. You CONTINUE to eat your young ITS SICK!!!!! $'s/ton Oh Booooo-hooooo. Go f*ck yourselves. You've ALREADY f*cked the rest of Humanity... and most of life on Earth for that matter!!!

Aug 30th
Reply

km

Let's be very clear: we *remain* in a pandemic because of anti-vaxers and the hesitant. An election now is incredibly important. Let's hear what the people want to do next.

Aug 18th
Reply