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
Canada’s Dreamers and their precarious future
Investigative reporter David Bruser speaks to Saba Eitizaz about thousands of undocumented Torontonians who were brought here as children, grew up here and call Canada home and are being shut out of …
Black Children’s Lives Matter: Why children's aid needs change (Rebroadcast)
"We have an opportunity to create a different reputation."
This episode is a rebroadcast from Thursday, July 23, where Mahesh Prajapat, Chief Operating Officer of CAS Toronto, tells Saba Eitizaz it’…
Doug Smith on the NBA’s return and the Raptors’ chances
Doug Smith, Toronto Raptors beat writer for the Toronto Star talks to Raju Mudhar about the NBA's return, the Orlando bubble and the Raptors chances of winning another NBA Championship.
The ethics of a COVID-19 vaccine and who gets it first
Who gets priority access to a vaccine? Should the first vaccines go to the most vulnerable and elderly populations? How do we define these terms? Who gets to decide? ‘This Matters’ talks to Daniel As…
Eviction Jurisdiction: Why Bill 184 scares tenants
Landlord/tenant lawyer Caryma Sa’d and Star reporter Victoria Gibson talk to Saba Eitizaz about the many questions surrounding the recently legislated Bill 184 and why many tenants are fearfully refe…
The murder of Hamilton mobster Pat Musitano
Who was Pat Musitano? The Star’s Peter Edwards first ran into him in the early ’90s and has been writing about him and the Musitano family ever since. The Star’s organized crime expert takes us throu…
GTA gun crisis: The numbers and potential solutions
Gun violence in the GTA has grown at an exponential pace and does not appear to be slowing. Wendy Gillis, who covers crime and policing for the Star, joins us to discuss the alarming numbers and what…
Bylaw & Order: Do’s and don’ts of Toronto’s pandemic rules
Jennifer Pagliaro, city hall reporter for the Toronto Star, talks to Adrian Cheung about the rules and forces that shape our living in a city, during a most uncertain time. During the pandemic, bylaw…
Black Children’s Lives Matter: Why Ontario’s child welfare system needs change
According to Toronto Children’s Aid Society, Black Torontonians only represent 9 percent of the city’s population while Black children represent the highest percentage of children in their care. The …
Ontario Place: Yours to recover
Robert Benzie, Toronto Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and David Rider, Toronto Star’s City Hall bureau chief joins This Matters to talk about the future of Ontario Place, the false starts and new h…
Open bars: What you need to know before heading out
Karon Liu, culture reporter at the Star and a former food writer joins This Matters to discuss how bars and restaurants are reopening in Ontario.
Dazed and confused? Here’s a Schools Reopening 101
With questions at how every level of education may safely return, Kris Rushowy, a Queen’s Park Bureau reporter for the Star, who also spent many years as an education reporter, joins This Matters to …
Comedy's racial reckoning
Andrew Clark, director of the Humber School of Comedy joins This Matters to talk about TV comedy's racial reckoning, as several sitcoms have excised episodes featuring blackface on streaming platform…
The mystery of COVID-19 long haulers' months-long symptoms
Months after testing negative, thousands of patients around the world — known as ‘long haulers — continue to face serious and often mysterious symptoms: skin rashes, short-term memory loss, shortness…
Is Ontario ignoring workplace cancer?
Saba Eitizaz talks to Sara Mojtehedzadeh, The Star’s Work and Wealth Reporter, about a new report on occupational cancer in Ontario which looks at why sick workers or their surviving families might b…
Trudeau versus ethics. Again
Susan Delacourt, national political columnist for the Toronto Star, talks to Adrian Cheung about Trudeau’s ethics violations, why he continues to find himself in the middle of controversies and what …
What we can learn from the disabled community during COVID-19
Full transcription available here (thanks to Access Now for transcribing).
A lot of us haven’t thought about the fact that the way we’re experiencing the world in the midst of a deadly virus, might …
Canada's border with the Isolated States of America
Edward Keenan, the Toronto Star’s Washington bureau chief, talks to Adrian Cheung on the Canada/US border issue, what the timeline of reopening could look like, and how the US — through the policies …
NHL hub cities, eh?
The good ol’ hockey game is about to come back, with the NHL set to confirm its choices of Toronto and Edmonton as its two hub cities where it will house players, teams and staff as it gets set to re…
Pizza Pizza Policegate
Pizza Pizza has been voluntarily serving up customer information to the police without a warrant. The Star has learned multiple police investigators obtained phone numbers and then went to a contact …