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
- 1076
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2025
His office was under fire. Now, Ontario's Chief Coroner leads the pandemic response
Is a Chief Coroner the right man to lead Ontario’s COVID-19 response? Dr. Dirk Huyer is the top man in Ontario to oversee and help minimize spread of the virus but some public health experts and doct…
How U of T’s hiring process became an international controversy
The University of Toronto’s law school has been accused of blocking the hiring of an international candidate as Director of the prestigious International Human Rights Program. Shree Paradkar, the Sta…
Fortnite’s ‘Epic’ fight with Apple explained
What if Trump won’t leave?
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly cast doubt on whether he would accept the results of election day in November. What if Trump loses the election but refuses to leave the White House? Today …
What if Trump won’t leave? (FiveThirtyEight extended cut for political junkies)
EDITOR'S NOTE: This version is for you political nerds listening (respect!). This double-length episode goes deep into the different simulations, at a state level, at an Electoral College level, and …
COVID-19 cases are spiking. Here’s what the data means
COVID-19 case numbers are spiking in Ontario and across Canada. We talk with Ed Tubb, who has been following COVID-19 data for The Star. He tells us what the numbers mean, what they are pointing too …
Food for thought: How the pandemic changed how we buy, cook and eat
From bread baking to meal kits to everyone cooking at home more, The Star’s Karon Liu, a culture & food reporter, joins This Matters to talk about COVID-19 pandemic trends in food buying habits and h…
QAnon, the viral pro-Trump conspiracy theory, explained
This Matters lifts the veil on what QAnon is, how it’s spread like a virus in mainstream discourse, what responsibilities social media companies have in cracking down on it and why internet-fuelled (…
The road to a vaccine
There is a global race on to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, and at the same time, nations are jockeying to make sure they will have enough when it arrives. The Star's Alex Boyd has been following this a…
How COVID-19 has disproportionately affected women
New data shows not only is women’s participation in the workforce is at a historical low, but racialized, low-income and immigrant women have been especially hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic’s econo…
The ABC's (algorithms, big tech and cops) of predictive policing and surveillance
Think of it as very early version of the movie Minority Report. Many police forces are using big data to automate surveillance and predict where crimes might occur. From facial recognition to social …
Another day on the job: Racism and workplace PTSD
How does racial trauma impact lives and careers? Can you get PTSD from your workplace? In today’s episode, Dr. Monnica Williams explains. Dr. Williams is an Associate Professor at the University of O…
How did WE Charity get here?
WE Charity announced this week that it is ending all Canadian operations, a development set against the backdrop of a national political scandal. Jaren Kerr, a journalist who broke many stories about…
Mortgaging the future: Why people are leaving the big city
With many people facing the possibility of working remotely permanently, this pandemic is the right time to move out of the big city. The urban exodus is happening, at least for some, and today on Th…
The costs of the cashless economy
The move to cashless business has a big cost. A 2019 study showed that 17 percent of the UK’s population would “struggle to cope in a cashless society.” Many in Canada will also be at a disadvantage.…
Your back-to-school questions, answered
Usually, a day after Labour Day, many kids, parents and teachers are ready and eager — and a bit nervours — to go back to school. But this year, during a pandemic, that nervousness is at a new high. …
Food couriers vs. their boss, an app: Hustled episode 1 (Labour Day rebroadcast)
This Labour Day, This Matters is rebroadcasting the first episode of the Toronto Star’s six-part podcast Hustled, where the Star’s labour reporter Sara Mojtehedzadeh takes us behind the scenes of a D…
A police officer shares her story of surviving workplace sexual harassment
Toronto Police Constable Heather McWilliam was sexually harassed for years by her supervisors, including a sexual assault in the form of a forced kiss, and six years after she decided to fight back —…
That’s all folks, the singularity is near. Elon Musk’s cyber pigs and brain computer tech
Brain computer technology is at a point where the potential medical implications are so exciting many players are pursuing different approaches to the field. The potential ethics of using this techno…
The truth behind the racist message in skin “whitening” creams
The multibillion-dollar skin whitening cream industry has until recently bombarded people with images of white skin being more desirable. As the Black Lives Matter movement gained traction in calling…