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
What do companies owe essential workers before and after COVID-19?
Employees are taking care of business but are businesses taking care of employees? Within a matter of weeks, Canadians, and people around the world, have learned which industries and workers are esse…
Q&A with Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s public health guardian
Star City Hall Bureau Chief, David Rider, talks with Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s public health guardian, on her life and the weight of the fight against COVID-19. Dr. de Villa, medical officer of …
Viral inequality: Coronavirus might be an equalizer but society is not
Some people can work at home, avoid transit, connect to colleagues and friends via Zoom, order supplies to their door, stockpile necessities, and avoid COVID-19. Others can't. Saba Eitizaz speaks to …
Is it ok to go outside for a walk?
Raju Mudhar speaks to Kate Allen, the Star’s science and technology reporter, and asked under what circumstances it’s safe to go out for a stroll. The messages about physical distancing seem to be fi…
Why some white supremacists are celebrating the pandemic
Adrian Cheung talks to Ben Makuch, national security reporter for Vice News, about why some neo-Nazis and white supremacists view the COVID-19 pandemic as their moment to act out their racist ideolog…
Young, healthy Star reporter says getting COVID-19 so much worse than expected
Raju Mudhar speaks to fellow Toronto Star journalist May Warren about her experience with COVID-19. She discusses how she got COVID-19, how she couldn’t get tested and how much this disease beat her …
ER doctor speaks from the frontline of COVID-19 and about what we can do to help
What is it really like to serve on the frontline of a pandemic? What are doctors and nurses seeing in emergency rooms? How are our healthcare workers coping with the mental stress of making life and …
Are you the perfect quarantine parent? (No and there’s no need to be)
Yesterday, as Ontario races to get ahead of the COVID-19 curve, the government announced that children won’t be returning to class until at least May 4. In today’s episode, Saba Eitizaz talks with Dr…
Crime, COVID-19 and how bad actors will take advantage of this pandemic
From fraud to cyber-attacks and terrorism, bad actors may be trying to take advantage of this COVID-19 pandemic. Raju Mudhar discusses crime in the age of COVID-19 and how the actions of some could a…
A (now isolated) scientist who isolated the COVID-19 virus explains the fight for a vaccine
Scientists all over the world are working on finding ways to test and develop vaccines for COVID-19. Raju Mudhar talks with a member of the team of researchers who collaborated to become one of the f…
Soccer, the NBA, finally the Olympics. How pro sports lost to COVID-19 but warned the world
When “accidental hero” Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19, and more NBAers followed, it triggered a domino effect that shut the doors of every major sport in North America. After Canada was the…
Not thinking straight? What happens to our minds during a pandemic
We’ve barely had a chance to process the COVID-19 pandemic that has up-ended every element of our live. So what happens to our minds when we’re faced with a pandemic? Why do we panic buy and hoard it…
Millennials, Gen Xers, and women facing increased pressure taking care of kids and parents during COVID-19
Many millennials and gen Xers are stuck in the middle, having to deal with young children and older parents who often have health issues. With older people more likely to be at higher risk to COVID-1…
Why infectious disease experts say the worst of the curve is yet to come
The term “flattening the curve” is everywhere, in personal discussion and the media coverage of COVID-19. But how far away is everyone from actually flattening it, here in Canada and around the world…
The pandemic of loneliness
In the first episode of This Matters, a daily news podcast from the Toronto Star, the team works from home in self isolation like millions across the world. COVID-19 has resulted in the need for soci…
Introducing This Matters, from the Toronto Star
Coming soon from the Toronto Star, This Matters is a daily news podcast that will help make sense of an increasingly frantic news cycle, one big issue at a time, Monday to Friday. Hosts Adrian Cheung…