This Matters
The world is changing every day. Now, more than ever, these questions matter. What’s happening? And why should you care? This Matters, a daily news podcast from the Toronto Star, aims to answer those questions, on important stories and ideas, every day, Monday to Friday. Hosts Saba Eitizaz and Ed Keenan talk to their fellow journalists, experts and newsmakers about the social, cultural, political and economic stories that shape your life.
- Update frequency
- every 3 days
- Average duration
- 22 minutes
- Episodes
- 1077
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
Climate change noticeable in Toronto, not so in mayoral platforms
Guests: Denise Balkissoon, Ontario Bureau Chief for The Narwhal, speaks with guest host Edward Keenan
In the final weeks of the mayoral election campaign, journalist Denise Balkissoon wrote a piece f…
Three of their kids are going blind. So they went and saw the world
Guest: Edith Lemay and Sébastien Pelletier
When Edith Lemay and Sebastien Pelletier learned three of their four children have a genetic disorder and will lose their sight, they turned their devastati…
‘Seizing the means of construction’ and other mayoral attacks
Guests: The Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel, featuring columnists Emma Teitel, Shawn Micallef, Matt Elliott and guest host Edward Keenan
With less than two weeks to go before the election, ca…
Toronto Pride: funding woes, rising hate and why events must go on
Guest: Sherwin Modeste, executive director of Pride Toronto
Toronto’s Pride festival is up against some financial challenges this year. Organizers say rising costs of necessary security and policing,…
Paul Bernardo and how federal corrections handles dangerous offenders
Guest: Tony Doob, professor emeritus, University of Toronto Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies
News that Paul Bernardo, one of Canada’s most notorious killers, has been moved from a maximu…
Are any candidates separating themselves? It’s up for debate
Guests: The Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel, featuring columnists Emma Teitel, Shawn Micallef, Matt Elliott and guest host Edward Keenan
Signs are blooming on lawns across the city. The advan…
A reality check on Apple’s new Vision Pro headset
Guest: Patrick O’Rourke, editor-in-chief of MobileSyrup.com
Apple has launched what it hopes is it’s next game changing computing device. The Vision Pro is a headset the company calls an augmented re…
An insider’s look at the race for mayor from Jennifer Keesmaat
Guests: Jennifer Keesmaat, former Chief Planner of Toronto, 2018 candidate for mayor and partner with Markee Developments speaks with guest host Edward Keenan
We all know that fundraising is a key pa…
Is Toronto a safe city? The data versus perception
Guests: Jennifer Pagliaro, crime reporter, and Alyshah Hasham, City Hall reporter
With so many high profile and violent crimes in Toronto in the past year, public safety has become an important issue…
Canada is in flames. What you need to know about fire science
Guest: Mike Flannigan, chair in Predictive Services, Emergency Management and Fire Science at Thompson Rivers University
Canada is on fire from coast-to-coast. As a wildfire burns on northern Vancou…
One on one with David Suzuki: climate change, clean energy and whether there’s hope
Guest: David Suzuki, world-renowned geneticist and environmentalist
Before the Paris Agreement, before the Kyoto Protocol, before even the UN Climate Convention was signed in Rio, world-renowned gene…
Olivia Chow vs. Everyone? Keenan and Teitel weigh in on the Star’s mayoral candidates debate
Toronto Star columnists Emma Teitel and Edward Keenan co-host this episode of “This Matters” to discuss how Ana Bailão, Brad Bradford, Olivia Chow, Mitzie Hunter, Josh Matlow and Mark Saunders perfor…
‘We’re getting screwed... make that the ballot question’
Guests: Scott Reid, advisor to former prime minister Paul Martin and political analyst with CTV, speaks with guest host Edward Keenan
Exactly 21 years ago, Scott Reid’s boss, then Finance Minister Pa…
The ups and downs of the elevator industry
Guest: Clarrie Feinstein, business reporter
Elevators are key piece of apartment and condo living, but due to a number of factors, they often take a long time to get fixed once they break down. From …
Body cams on soccer referees to deter abuse from parents and coaches
Guest: Kerry Gillespie, sports reporter
Ontario Soccer is launching a pilot project this summer that will see some referees wearing body cams to record and deter abuse. What is surprising is that t…
The historical context behind renaming Dundas Street
Guest: Francine Kopun, senior writer
Toronto is in the process of renaming Dundas Street, but some critics think it’s not worth the cost and trouble. Three years after City Hall acted on a petition …
Debating Toronto’s future: The race for mayor
Guest: David Rider, City Hall bureau chief
We are learning a lot more about the candidates running to be mayor of Toronto, particularly the six leading contenders who have floated to the top while 9…
Is Olivia Chow’s ‘untouchable’ lead for real?
Guests: The Toronto Star All-Star Opinionator Panel, featuring columnists Emma Teitel, Shawn Micallef, Matt Elliott and guest host Edward Keenan
Our political panel talks about the election race as T…
How will Ontario peel Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon apart?
Guests: Robert Benzie, Queen’s Park bureau chief, and Noor Javed, staff reporter covering the 905
The Ontario government is breaking up Peel Region to make Mississauga, Brampton and Caledon stand-al…
Sodium nitrite, self harm and the case people around the world are watching
Guest: Jason Miller, crime and justice reporter
An Ontario man is facing two charges of counselling or aiding suicide and, as details emerge, we have learned authorities in other parts of the world …