The Current

Acclaimed documentarian Barbara Kopple turns her camera on the struggles of delivery workers in her new film "Union Town." The two-time Oscar winner made her name with "Harlan County USA," a harrowing film about a bitter coal strike in rural Kentucky. She speaks to Matt Galloway about the back-breaking and dangerous work delivery workers do, and what it would take to improve conditions.

Ariel Ekblaw is a space architect looking to solve the problems of life on Earth and beyond. Hear how her designs for a new space habitat could replace the International Space Station, a reality check on data centres in space, and how low orbit manufacturing could hold the key to curing blindness. This is not science fiction, but is the next step in the space race.

EU leader Ursula von der Leyen wants Canada to become the European Union's first associate member, but what Canada wants is a “unique relationship” instead. Is Europe ready for an expansion? And what's in it for Canada? Jeremy Kinsman, former Canadian ambassador to the EU, and Berlin-based EU expert Nicolai von Ondarza weigh in.

A forest fire northwest of Summerland, British Columbia started around dinnertime on August 7th. It's not unusual for the Okanagan to see fires spark in the summer. But what was unusual was how aggressively it spread, causing more than 20-thousand people to flee. Fires are getting bigger and faster. And they're causing more devastation. So, residents and politicians are now trying to figure out how to better prepare. CBC's Sarah Penton explores all that in her documentary, With Speed and Violence.

After years of decline, the monarch butterfly population is bouncing back. We speak to The Atlantic's Vann R. Newkirk II, who travelled to Mexico's Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve and tracked the migration journeys of three monarchs: Cinderella, Eric and Carle. He explains what's behind this butterfly's remarkable comeback and whether it can last.

AI insiders have increasingly been sounding the alarm on the risks of out-of-control superintelligence, with some claiming a non-zero chance that AI could kill all humans before the end of the decade. Author and investigative journalist Stephen Witt lays out the potential scenarios and the corporate interests at play.

Just 4 months after electing Kerry-Lynne Finlay as the new leader of the BC Conservatives, the party is in disarray. So far, 9 MLAs have left the party. Of those, a faction of 7 MLAs has joined together to create another, yet unnamed, right wing party. Rob Shaw of Check News explains what's been happening and tries to give a sense of why.

We hear from Canadian Geographic's 2026 Wildlife Photographer of the Year, David Sturge, about a rare encounter with a seal pup on a melting ice sheet in a Newfoundland Bay, and the stories of environmental stewardship he tells through his pictures.

Doug Kitchen was depressed and lonely after his wife left him. He says using a chatbot was key to his recovery. He's one of a growing number of Canadians turning to AI-powered tools for mental health support. Montreal psychiatrist Vincent Paquin says chatbots can help, but says we still need guardrails for this powerful tech.

Actor Sydney Sweeney is once again facing backlash over an advertisement. Female athletes around the world are responding to a nude sports gambling ad. Culture critic Bee Quamie on why Sweeney is such a lightning rod for controversy and what this ad and response to it can tell us about this moment in women's sport.

Canada's relationship with the United States is rocky right now. Is it a glitch or a new feature? Former U.S. ambassador to Canada Bruce Heyman argues the ties that bind the two neighbours will endure. But Prime Minister Mark Carney is heading to Europe hoping to deepen ties to the EU. Former Quebec premier Jean Charest says that's in Canada's interest.

Mark Carney and Canadian business heavyweights are wooing international investors in Toronto this week. The Prime Minister wants to attract $1 trillion in investment over the next decade. What's on offer? And who wants to buy Canadian? Matthew Winkler of Bloomberg News and Falice Chin of The Hub give us their take.

If you're pushing 80 and still walking as fast as your 50-year-old friends, you might be a supermover. New research on 'supermovers' - people 90+ who walk faster than their ageing peers - have a 50 percent lower chance of developing cognitive decline as they age. Plus, their brains are bigger.

Five years after the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan, one young woman says she feels like her home has become her jail. She once went to school and worked with a Canadian NGO, but now says she's afraid to leave her house, and hopes the Canadian government can help.

Bestselling author and conflict facilitator Priya Parker says most of us are not very good at fighting: either we avoid it, or we escalate it until it becomes explosive. In her new book, The Art of Fighting, she advocates for something called "healthy heat," what we can learn about conflict from the TV show The Bear, and when a conflict might signal that a relationship should end.

Dr. Danielle Ofri was working at Bellevue Hospital in New York as the 9/11 attacks unfolded. Stuart Inglis was a Canadian graphic designer working there too. They remember how the friends and families of the missing started plastering the city with posters, as they desperately tried to find a trace of their loved ones.

For more than two years, Canadian Rick Hansen pushed his wheelchair around the world to raise money and awareness for people with disabilities. Now — more than 40 years later — a new documentary at TIFF, "Man in Motion, The Rick Hansen Story," looks back at that tour. Matt Galloway speaks with Rick and his wife Amanda.

Jeanette Gutierrez and Kelly Sceviour would probably have never met if it weren't for the tragedy of 9/11. Jeanette was a survivor of the attacks that day in New York City — and met Kelly when she attended a 9/11 memorial in Gander, Newfoundland, 10 years ago. They talk about how they bonded as Jeanette was being "screeched in" at the local legion, and why being together on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks means so much to both of them.

Canadian Ron di Francesco and New Yorker Wendy Lanski were both working in the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001 — when, out of the bright, blue New York sky, hijackers crashed two jet planes into the towers, changing the city, and the world in a matter of minutes. They join us on the 25th anniversary of the terrorist attacks to reflect on their experiences that day, how they have processed what they went through, and the scars it has left on them and the families who lost loved ones.

Two diseases are ravaging PEI's oyster industry and farmers and fishers say government help hasn't been enough. We travel to Tyne Valley and go to the heart of the "dead zone". This is part one of The Current's road trip across the maritimes. Also in this episode: We get a preview of the ambitious new restoration of Province House in Charlottetown.

A sexy new romance novel has been drawing a new generation of fans to Prince Edward Island, and now it's about to become a Netflix series. We go on the set of "This Summer Will Be Different" and talk to the showrunners Linsey Stewart and Dane Clark. Also in this episode: We pay a visit to Mrs Dunster's — an iconic New Brunswick bakery that is becoming a national success story.

The former premier of New Brunswick and former Canadian ambassador to the US gives his take on the trade war, and Canada at this moment. He has some sharp words for Alberta premier Danielle Smith and tells a wild story about the advice he and Jean Chretien got from another world leader after the 1995 Quebec referendum. Also in this episode: our conversation with beloved Acadian musician Lisa Leblanc.

We speak with the creators of the series North of North as they launch Season 2 after the show became an international hit. Stacey Aglok MacDonald and Alethea Arnaquq-Baril tell us about what it's like to film a comedy in Iqaluit, about the good things, and the challenges faced by those living in Canada's North.

There have been alarm bells ringing for some time about dropping math scores in this country In her documentary, “Are your kids learning math the right way?”, CBC's Julia Pagel visits a school in Gimli, Manitoba, where new teaching strategies yield impressive test results—while sparking a deeper debate over the best way to teach math.

The White House responded to Canada's retaliatory counter-tariffs with a series of proclamations. We speak with two U.S.-based trade reporters, Gavin Bade from the Wall Street Journal, and Oliver Ward from POLITICO to discuss what this all means, and the road ahead in an escalating trade war.

Canadian authors Margaret Atwood and Stephen Marche reflect on what it means to be Canadian during a trade war, and what we need to consider when it comes to our culture, identity and politics in this moment.

Former UN Ambassador Bob Rae and former Conservative cabinet minister Lisa Raitt reflect on what it means to be Canadian in the midst of a trade war with the US, and what the stakes are for our country as retaliatory tariffs come into effect.

Our national affairs panel, CBC's Rosemary Barton, the Toronto Star's Ryan Tumility and Stephanie Levitz from the Globe and Mail, join us to unpack the latest, and what they'll be watching for from the Prime Minister in the coming weeks.

The Saint John container port in New Brunswick is drawing attention from all over the world. The people there are positioning the place as one answer to our tariff troubles. A growing number of companies are shipping through the port, to and from places, other than the US. Saint John is one of the most tariff-affected Canadian cities. So ,we talk about one of the success stories we found there as people there are working hard to adapt to changing times.And why some see the Port of Saint John as a gateway to the world.

We speak with Heidi Pyper, the wife of the late bestselling author of The Demonologist and The Killing Circle, Andrew Pyper, about his latest book releasing posthumously this week and a new prize for thriller and horror writers is launching this week in his honour.

It seems like chatting-it-up is part of Maritime culture. People love to talk, even with strangers. So, Jax Irwin has made a delightful gig of this friendly way of life. She's a Toronto broadcaster who is originally from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. On her social media, she calls random East Coast phone numbers, numbers in the 902 area code, and chitchats with whoever answers. We talk to her about what some of those conversations are, and why she calls herself a ‘phone call enthusiast.”

Can't concentrate? What about thinking deeply? Attention spans are shrinking rapidly. Cal Newport, a professor of computer science at Georgetown University and author of the bestselling book 'Deep Work,' says we're facing a crisis—an attack on our ability to think. He's calling for what he calls a revolution in defence of thinking. He outlines the steps for reclaiming your attention.

This Sunday Germans head to the polls. And the far-right Alternative for Germany party—or the AfD—is surging in the eastern state of Saxony-Anhalt. If they win, it'll mark the first time a far-right party has held state power in Germany since the Nazis. The CBC's Jessica Singer has been on the ground in Saxony-Anhalt, following the campaign and speaking with voters in the state capital, Magdeburg.

Trump's executive order renaming Lake Ontario has caused a stir, but experts say the controversy is distracting from more serious threats facing the Great Lakes. We speak with McMaster University professor emeritus Gail Krantzberg about how the Trump administration's rollback of environmental protections is putting the lakes' water quality and security at risk. We also speak with Western Michigan University professor Daniel Macfarlane about how weakening Great Lakes governance could threaten Canada's water sovereignty.

With fewer colds and flus, ER doctors used to care for fewer patients in the summer. Not anymore. Patients are waiting longer than ever. We hear from Dr. Noam Katz in Winnipeg and Dr. Brittany Ellis in Saskatoon about what their patients have been dealing with all summer and what needs to change. Then, we speak with Dr. Mayoorendra Ravichandiran, the Deputy Chief of Emergency Medicine at the Scarborough Health Network, about why his ERs are doing things differently -- and how it's helping his team lower wait times and see more patients.

For the past four decades, world renowned biologist Nalini Nadkarni has risked her life studying trees. In 2015, she fell from a 50-foot bigleaf maple tree in the Olympic Peninsula. She tells The Current host Matt Galloway what her recovery from that catastrophic fall taught her about resilience and trees.

These are unnerving times, sitting here at the beginning of September in 2026. The US-Iran war continues… Ukraine is heading into its fifth winter of a full-scale war with Russia. Under Donald Trump, the United States has taken a hammer to norms and institutions at home and abroad. Margaret MacMillan says a new world order is coming, why we aren't ready for it and how we can adapt.

There's no getting around it - life is more expensive as a single person than it is when you're in a couple. With singles in Canada now making up almost 40% of the population, The Current producer Cece Armstrong looked into the so-called singles 'tax' and how it's hitting people's wallets and life choices.

“Hands Off Our Great Lakes” is the name of a new bill from Democratic Congressman, Tim Kennedy who represents Buffalo and Niagara Falls. The bill aims to undo Trump's renaming of Lake Ontario to Lake America.

While the trade war continues to heat up, the Made-in-Canada movement is surging. We speak with former CBC broadcaster and social media influencer, Tod Maffin, about his online Canadian marketplace, Main Street Canada. We also speak with Jacquelyn Corbett, owner of the Toronto-based children' s clothing brand, Mini Mioche, and Ashley Chapman, the COO of Chapman's icecream, about the challenges ahead, and how they are shifting away from their American customers and suppliers.

The new book “London Falling” tells the true story of Zac Brettler, a 19-year-old Londoner who falls to his death in the Thames after living a double life pretending to be the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. We speak with bestselling author Patrick Radden Keefe about mystery, money and police inaction as he searches for answers about Zac's death.

More than a week after the U.S.-Canada talks collapsed, our national affairs panel —the CBC's Rosemary Barton, the Toronto Star's Ryan Tumilty, and Joël-Denis Bellavance of La Presse— unravels what we know about what happened, how the Carney government has responded, and how all this might affect the Conservatives' fortunes, the Quebec election, and the federal byelections happening Monday.