Front Burner

Through the 1960s, the U.S. government waged a war on Black activism, and activism writ large. It was led by the FBI and its longtime director, J. Edgar Hoover.

It was called COINTELPRO and was the FBI’s counterintelligence program created to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize” its targets.

With the Trump administration’s crackdown on the American left through law enforcement campaigns and new directi...

Stephen Maher, a longtime federal politics reporter, is here to talk about Pierre Poilievre’s recent comments that the RCMP covered up for Justin Trudeau so he could avoid criminal charges and whether or not this will hurt or help his upcoming leadership review.

Plus, fallout from carmaker Stellantis’s plan to move a plant from Brampton to Illinois and what it says about the state of trade talks with the U.S.

We'd love to hea...

Former FBI James Comey. Former national security advisor John Bolton. New York attorney general Letitia James. What do they have in common? All are now facing legal action from the U.S. government.

Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of the U.S. nonprofit publication Lawfare, breaks down the Trump White House's campaign of legal revenge against the president's rivals and critics, and where it could be headed next.

We'd love to h...

Over the last 10 days Israel and Hamas have observed a ceasefire that saw the return of hostages and prisoners to Israel, Gaza and the West Bank as well as deliveries of much needed aid to famine-struck Gaza since the deal was reached. 

However, the ceasefire has remained shaky and the possibility of a permanent end to the war is still uncertain. Israel carried out airstrikes throughout southern Gaza after it said Hamas mil...

This year, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader, María Corina Machado.

In the announcement last week, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said Machado had earned the prize for her “struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy". The award comes at a time when the U.S. has taken an increasingly belligerent stance against Venezuela’s president Nicolás Madur...

Marie-Philippe Bouchard has been in her role as President and CEO of CBC/Radio-Canada for a little under a year.

Since her appointment, we’ve had a federal election that has spared the public broadcaster from defunding threats for now, but certainly not from a broad sentiment that the CBC needs change and evolution. 

This week, Bouchard unveiled her own five-year vision. Today, she joins the show to discuss the rela...

At its peak, Marineland was the second most popular tourist destination in Ontario’s Niagara region after the falls. Visitors could get up close and personal with beluga whales, dolphins and orcas, and watch them perform in elaborate shows. Throw in a side of rollercoasters and other exhibits and you had a family friendly attraction built to last.

But for years, the park has been mired in controversy and allegations of animal ab...

Canada's first ever minister of artificial intelligence, Evan Solomon, is spearheading what he's calling a "30-day sprint" to nail down Canada's AI strategy. The plan? To figure out a government approach to the technology in order to boost the Canadian economy.

Today, we wanted to take stock of the state of the industry in Canada, and a closer look at the Liberal government’s strategy. What could it all mean for our jobs, our ec...

Where did Elon Musk’s epic ambitions begin? In search of clues we return to his sheltered youth in apartheid South Africa, a world engineered for white supremacy. Along the way, we connect the dots between a bizarre White House ambush of South African president Cyril Ramaphosa to teenage Elon’s ego-powered quests in video games. Finally, was his “draft dodge” from military service a moral act or an opportunist’s exit? Know more, no...

Today, if all goes well, a ceasefire will begin in Gaza.

In phase one, Hamas has pledged to return all of the hostages, living and dead. For its part Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, while withdrawing troops to an agreed-upon line in Gaza and maintaining majority control of the territory.

Beyond that, the details of Trump’s promise of a “strong, durable, and everlasting peace” are fuzzy, but for hostage ...

Beyond the frontlines of the war in Ukraine, a shadow war between the Kremlin and Kyiv is escalating -- with covert assassinations, car bombs, civilian recruitment, and even the involvement of a terrorist group with a history in Canada.

Today, national security reporter Ben Makuch examines how it’s transforming the character of the biggest land war since the Second World War -- and who might be winning.

We'd love to hear fr...

The term ‘Antifa’ derives from the German word for Antifascist — and the constellation of resistance movements largely created as a response to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. Today, Antifa describes a decentralized anti-fascist movement with local groups and unaffiliated activists all over the world. 

Many became aware of Antifascist organizing following  Antifa’s intervention at the white supremacist ‘Unite The Ri...

Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel in Egypt are underway, with the goal of reaching an agreement on the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposed peace plan. It would see the release of all remaining Israeli hostages by Hamas and potentially, over a thousand Palestinians detained by Israel as well as a ceasefire. The overall plan aims to end the war altogether.

But after previous hostage exchanges and ...

Aaron Wherry, senior writer at CBC's parliamentary bureau, is back today to talk Canadian politics.

We get into Mark Carney’s upcoming trip to Washington and what it might mean for the possibility of some sort of trade stability with the United States.

Plus, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says her province will propose a new bitumen pipeline to B.C.’s coast to the federal major projects office. But with significant opposition...

When the book ends, the conversation begins. On Bookends, Mattea Roach speaks with writers who have something to say about their work, the world and our place in it. You’ll always walk away with big questions to ponder and new books to read.

Bookends does not shy away from difficult conversations … and neither does Anna Sale, the host of the popular Slate podcast Death, Sex and Money. The show is all about diving into topics tha...

After Donald Trump was elected for a second time, historian Timothy Snyder wrote this in the New Yorker: “Trump has always been a presence, not an absence: the presence of fascism.” Today on Front Burner, Snyder makes that case again. His warning about fascism feels particularly relevant at this point in Trump’s presidency, as the U.S. sees an escalation in political violence, the deployment of federal law enforcement in major citi...

The U.S. government has shut down after Republicans and Democrats failed to pass a spending bill before the end of Tuesday. Government services will grind to a halt and hundreds of thousands of federal employees face unpaid leave. How long is it expected to last, and could it have been avoided? 

Plus, President Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth held a rare gathering of the country’s top military leaders, detai...

Last week, Canada officially recognized Palestinian statehood. 

In explaining this decision, Prime Minister Mark Carney released a statement which read, "Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel."

Just over a week later, U.S. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unvei...

While Donald Trump may have shocked many at the UN General Assembly when he called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”, he may just have been the most extreme messenger of a global shift being seen elsewhere. 

David Wallace-Wells, author of “The Uninhabitable Earth” and friend of the show, recently wrote a feature for the New York Times detailing the ways much of the world has turned away fro...