Front Burner

On the week where Alberta separatists should have been celebrating a major milestone on their quest to split the country apart, they are instead facing a police investigation and the anger of people across the political spectrum.

Separatist group the Centurion Project released the names, addresses and phone numbers of all eligible voters in the province during a political recruitment gambit that could undermine their whole mission.

We’re joined by Jason Markusoff who covers Alberta politics for the CBC. He’s going to talk us through what this all means for the future of Alberta's independence movement.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act, passed in 1964 and 1965 respectively, marked the beginning of multi-racial democracy in the United States.

But in the decades since, those achievements have been steadily contested. Just days ago, The U.S. Supreme Court dealt yet another blow to the Voting Rights Act with a decision regarding the Louisiana congressional map. Many experts say the Voting Rights Act is facing an existential moment where it stands to be narrowed, marginalized, and legislated out of relevancy, or even existence.

Ari Berman is the voting rights correspondent at Mother Jones and the author of a number of books on the history of the subject, most recently Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People―and the Fight to Resist It.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Australia was the first country to adopt a ban. Canada’s federal government is signaling that something is coming from them soon. A recent Angus Reid poll found 75 per cent of Canadians support the idea.

But even among those who acknowledge the harm social media causes for young people, the answer is not so clear cut.

We’re joined by Taylor Owen, the Beaverbrook Chair in Media, Ethics and Communications at McGill University. He’s a part of the federal government’s expert advisory group on online safety and on its AI strategy taskforce. He makes the argument that a ban isn’t a silver bullet and that we need to focus on making social media safer for everyone.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

He was “Captain Canada” last year and at one point, the most popular conservative in Canada.
But now Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s taken a hit in the polls after a series of decisions that include the purchase and almost immediate sale of a $28.9-million private jet that his critics are calling the “gravy plane”.

Two recent polls have seen the Ontario PCs drop enough to find themselves almost on par with the Liberals, a party that’s currently helmed by an interim leader. Doug Ford’s personal approval ratings are worse, with more Ontarians unhappy with him than not. Can he turn this around? We’re joined by Robert Benzie, Queens Park Bureau chief for The Toronto Star.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

We are entering week two of a dramatic trial that pits two of the biggest names in tech against each other: Elon Musk and Sam Altman.

Musk is suing OpenAI, a company that he co-founded, claiming they betrayed their original mission in order to chase profits. According to him, the fate of the world is at stake.

But OpenAI says it’s all sour grapes, and that he's just upset that they did so well after he stepped down.

New York Times technology correspondent Mike Isaac has been covering the trial in Oakland, California. He joins us to break down the stakes of the trial, as well as what it’s taught us about the AI race.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts