Best Raptorland Podcasts (2024)

1
Trump’s triumphant convention (and tedious speech) 49:43

25d ago49:43

49:43

Guest: The Toronto Star’s Richard Warnica, reporting from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin Less than a week after a would-be assassin wounded former U.S. President Donald Trump, he accepted his party’s nomination to run for president again on a stage in Wisconsin. In between, he selected a vice-presidential candidate, crea…

1
Moments after the attempted assassination of Trump, conspiracy theories went viral 23:18

26d ago23:18

23:18

Guest: Alex Boyd, Toronto Star reporter The investigations continue into what drove 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to open fire last weekend, at former president Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, before being shot dead by a Secret Service sniper. But moments after the shooting, social media platforms were flooded with conspiracy th…

1
After the Trump assassination attempt 32:58

27d ago32:58

32:58

Guest: Allan Woods, Toronto Star global and national affairs reporter On the weekend, a 20-year-old gunman opened fire at a Donald Trump campaign rally, apparently injuring the former president, killing a bystander, and injuring two others. Toronto Star reporter Allan Woods wrote this week about the history of political violence and assassinations …

1
Toronto (sports) the bad: The conclusion 1:18:26

1M ago1:18:26

1:18:26

Bruce Arthur and Dave Feschuk take a final tour through Toronto's recent sports history. They touch on the bean-counting days of the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Rogers to the more ambitious days of Bell and Rogers, with Larry Tanenbaum in between. They muse on the bad old days of the Leafs, Raptors and Jays to the current era of Brendan Shan…

1
The Shanaplan in Shambles 1:27:45

1M ago1:27:45

1:27:45

Guest: Legendary sports broadcaster Dave Hodge, formerly of TSN and Hockey Night in Canada Hosts: Bruce Arthur and Dave Feschuk When Brendan Shanahan took over the helm of the Maple Leafs in 2014, he vowed not to repeat the sins of various predecessors accused of rushing the team-building process. Shanahan insisted he would exercise patience. But a…

1
Rebuild in Raptorland 58:20

1M ago58:20

58:20

Guest: Toronto Star basketball writer Doug Smith Hosts: Bruce Arthur and Dave Feschuk Five years ago, Masai Ujiri was among the most coveted executives in all of pro sports, his masterstroke trade for Kawhi Leonard landing the Raptors their first NBA title. In the five years since, the franchise has won one playoff series while languishing through …

1
The Blue Jays' decade of playing it safe 1:01:23

1M ago1:01:23

1:01:23

Guest: Former Toronto Star baseball columnist and Blue Jays PR director Richard Griffin Hosts: Bruce Arthur and Dave Feschuk Mark Shapiro could have been the perfect president of the Toronto Blue Jays. In the eight years since he took over for Paul Beeston, Shapiro has successfully convinced Blue Jays ownership to spend big money on the team, not t…

1
Alice Munro's family kept a terrible secret for decades. Now they want the world to know 29:02

1M ago29:02

29:02

Guest: Deborah Dundas, opinion section editor at the Toronto Star A chilling revelation has surfaced almost a month after the death of Canada's literary giant, Alice Munro. Andrea Skinner — who is Munro’s daughter — has revealed in the Toronto Star that her stepfather Gerald Fremlin sexually abused her when she was nine years old. She was only able…

1
In Toronto, “love wins” (but traffic still sucks) 1:09:12

2M ago1:09:12

1:09:12

Guest: Olivia Chow, mayor of Toronto One year ago, Olivia Chow was elected mayor of Toronto in a victory that signalled optimism in a city where that seemed in short supply. As we approach the annual Pride parade and the Canada Day long weekend (and after a marathon city council meeting), Chow reflects on what she’s proudest of and what has been mo…

1
Ontario against gender-based violence, Part 2: Intimate partner violence, a survivor tells her story 27:57

2M ago27:57

27:57

Guest: Cait Alexander, artist and social activist In 2022, 184 women were killed violently in Canada. That’s one woman killed every 48 hours. More than four million women, 30 per cent of all women aged 15 and older, report that they have experienced sexual assault. It’s costing Canada almost $8 billion to deal with the aftermath of spousal violence…

1
Ontario against gender-based violence, Part 1: Sexual harassment and Lydia’s Law 21:55

2M ago21:55

21:55

Guest: Andrea Gunraj, vice president public engagement, Canadian Women’s Foundation In 2022, 184 women were killed violently in Canada. That’s one woman killed every 48 hours. More than four million women, 30 per cent of all women aged 15 and older, report that they have experienced sexual assault. It’s costing Canada almost $8 billion to deal with…

1
Gov. Gen. Mary Simon on reconciliation, respect and her fight against online hate 21:33

2M ago21:33

21:33

Guest: Mary Simon, governor general of Canada Gov. Gen. Mary Simon was appointed to her role in 2021, and made history as the first Indigenous person to hold that office. She used her social media to share updates about her work until last year, when the online hate came for her. Her team was forced to close her social media account’s comment secti…

1
What Toronto lost in the St. Anne's fire 22:20

2M ago22:20

22:20

Guests: John Degen, novelist, and Peter Gorman, Deputy People's Warden at St. Anne's On June 9, a catastrophic four-alarm fire destroyed St. Anne's Anglican Church in Toronto's Little Portugal neighbourhood. The flames turned valuable paintings that were embedded into the very structure to ashes, including the only know religious artwork made by Ca…

1
What you learn about conspiracy theories by starting one 26:56

2M ago26:56

26:56

Guest: Satirical conspiracy theory leader Peter McIndoe It all started when Peter McIndoe, a self-described “obnoxious teenager,” went to a women’s march and scrawled the most random phrase he could think of on a sign: “Birds Aren’t Real.” When asked by people around him what he meant, he improvised a whole back story, someone posted a video of him…

1
Is the TTC rolling towards its first strike in almost 20 years? 18:07

2M ago18:07

18:07

Guest: Ben Spurr, city hall bureau chief Can you imagine Toronto without its public transit lifeline? A TTC strike might be looming for the first time in almost 16 years as thousands of transit workers might soon walk off the job and on to the picket line this Friday. Despite months of negotiations on job security, wages and benefits, the TTC manag…

1
Why municipal governments might be best positioned to rapidly deploy climate solutions 31:45

3M ago31:45

31:45

Guest: David Miller, former mayor of Toronto Former Toronto Mayor David Miller was always an advocate for the environment. But in the nearly 14 years since he left office he’s become one of the world’s great networkers for climate solutions, bringing together mayors from 96 cities to share policy ideas, programs and practices. In this episode of “T…

1
The city-changing magic of wandering around 27:03

3M ago27:03

27:03

Guest: Shawn Micallef, contributing columnist and author of “Stroll: Pyschogeographic Walking Tours of Toronto” In 2010, journalist Shawn Micallef first published his book of observations, suggestions and civic history gleaned from years of wandering around the city and paying close attention to what he saw. In the 14-years since, as Micallef becam…

1
Voices from the ground: a glimpse inside Canada's student encampments 36:24

3M ago36:24

36:24

Guests: Journalists Samira Mohyeddin and Christopher Curtis Student protests that first erupted across the United States have now spread northward, igniting across Canada, including campuses at University of Toronto, McGill University, University of British Columbia and University of Alberta among others. The students say they want to end a war tha…

1
PWHL is creating superstars and superfans 26:04

3M ago26:04

26:04

Guest: Toronto PWHL season ticket holder and superfan Connie Hamers At the inaugural game of Toronto’s professional women’s hockey team, Connie Hamers had front-row seats, and immediately took a liking to the play of rookie Emma Maltais. By game two, she’d labelled her section “Emma Nation” and began bringing team swag she made (or had made) hersel…

1
Ontario has banned cellphones in class. We take a deeper dive into the new rules for schools 18:37

3M ago18:37

18:37

Guests: Jasmine Eastmond, Tristan Kim and Kristin Rushowy The Ontario government has announced a crackdown on cellphones and vaping in schools, new regulations that are being seen as some of the toughest in Canada. According to Education Minister Stephen Lecce, the new government policy for cellphones, with some exceptions, is out of sight, out of …

1
After the verdict, Umar Zameer reflects 29:47

4M ago29:47

29:47

Guest: Betsy Powell, courts reporter After the death of police Const. Jeffrey Northrup, the trial of Umar Zameer for first degree murder galvanized attention (and political rage) in the Toronto area. Now that he’s been found not guilty, people are left with questions about a prosecution that always seemed to be based on flimsy grounds. Reporter Bet…

1
A Q&A with Sophie Grégoire Trudeau 41:09

4M ago41:09

41:09

Guest: Sophie Grégoire Trudeau Even before Sophie Grégoire Trudeau married Prime Minister Justin Trudeau she was an advocate for mental health, openly sharing her personal struggles with eating disorders. She discusses her new book. She shares those struggles afresh, along with tales of her parents, her schooling, her relationships, in her new book…

1
Poets discuss Taylor Swift’s lyrics as poetry 1:04:35

4M ago1:04:35

1:04:35

We asked three published, award-winning Toronto poets to weigh in on Swift’s literary merit at a listening party on the album’s release day. The assignment: dissect three new songs as though Swift were a writer workshopping new pieces. Guests: Sanna Wani, a poet and poetry editor whose latest book, “My Grief The Sun,” was released in 2022; Jody Cha…

1
Why are Ontario school boards suing TikTok, Snapchat and Meta for $4.5 billion? 26:41

4M ago26:41

26:41

Guests: Leena Usman, Pino Buffone and Kris Rushowy In what could be a landmark lawsuit in Canada, at least five major Ontario school boards are taking some of the largest social media companies to court over their platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok, alleging they have been designed in a way that’s almost “rewiring” the way children behav…

1
Author Salman Rushdie on his attack, writing ‘Knife’ and fear 37:16

4M ago37:16

37:16

Guest: Salman Rushdie, author It has been almost two years since celebrated author Salman Rushdie was attacked on a stage in Erie, New York as he was about to deliver a lecture. In an assault that lasted 27 seconds, a knife went through his right eye and optical nerve, while wounds to his tongue, neck and hand left him a changed man. Salman shares …

1
What will it take for women to get a pay raise? 23:00

4M ago23:00

23:00

Guest: Anuradha Dugal, Vice President Community Initiatives at the Canadian Women's Foundation Equal Pay Day is recognized internationally as a day of action, calling on stakeholders to advance women’s economic activity. It symbolizes how much longer women have had to work to catch up to what their male colleagues have earned in the previous year. …

1
Mayor Olivia Chow’s plans for homeless encampments, tax fiascos and dangerous dogs 50:15

4M ago50:15

50:15

Guest: Olivia Chow, mayor News over the last couple of weeks around city hall has been heavy on tax worries and mix-ups — thousands of bills sent out for vacant home taxes for occupied properties and concerns about a proposed stormwater fee. Mayor Olivia Chow explains what she thinks went wrong and how she plans to fix it (and “start from scratch” …

1
The vacant-home tax and other disasters 37:03

4M ago37:03

37:03

Thousands of property owners across the city got bills this week for vacant home taxes applying to homes they live in. Today, hosts Ed Keenan and Emma Teitel try to understand the comprehensive fiasco in the implementation of the policy. They also talk about the much-feared “rain tax” that will now go back for further study, about Prime Minister Ju…

1
Why is Canada limiting its number of temporary residents and what are the new rules? 18:25

4M ago18:25

18:25

Guest: Nicholas Keung, immigration reporter The federal government is scaling back on the number of temporary residents and foreign workers in Canada while trying to boost access to permanent residence for those already here. Earlier, similar curbing measures were introduced for international students as well. While the government is framing these …

1
Thinking about a "lunch-break facelift?" It comes with risks you might not know 27:14

4M ago27:14

27:14

Guests: Sheila Wang and Morgan Sevareid-Bocknek, investigative reporters They're called ”lunch hour facelifts,” cosmetic touch-ups without the surgery. But if you are rethinking your lunch plans, you might want to think again. A recent Star investigation found a lot of these procedures are not as advertised. Across Canada, spas and medical clinics …

1
Why are people talking about running out of maple syrup? 22:01

4M ago22:01

22:01

Guest: Toronto Star climate reporter Kate Allen Canada is the leader in maple syrup production and Quebec’s maple syrup producers maintain a strategic reserve stockpile that in recent years held over 100 million pounds of the sweet stuff, but levels have this year dwindled to less than 7 million pounds. Star reporter Kate Allen wrote a feature on t…

1
Taking in the sheer scale of the Baltimore bridge collapse 18:37

5M ago18:37

18:37

Guest: Richard Warnica, staff reporter The Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore was a massive component of the port city's entire transportation network, and in a matter of moments this week, it collapsed after being struck by a container ship. The Star’s Richard Warnica reports from the scene, explaining his reflections on standing next to the br…

1
The biggest mayoral election you might not have heard of 36:28

5M ago36:28

36:28

Guest: Noor Javed, staff reporter When Bonnie Crombie was elected leader of the Ontario Liberals, she left the mayor’s chair in Mississauga vacant. That means that for the first time since the 1970s, no one is certain who will lead the city next. An election with real choice comes at an interesting time for a municipality that, fifty years after it…

1
Have Canadian prisons made access to online education almost impossible for inmates? 21:47

5M ago21:47

21:47

Guest: Brendan Kennedy, investigative reporter The evidence is overwhelming and it’s the government’s own research. Getting any education while incarcerated reduces the rate of recidivism by as much as 30 per cent. It’s more than double that for inmates who get a post-secondary education. Government officials confirm that at least some education be…

1
Our last stop: Specialty EVs for the mining industry 24:34

5M ago24:34

24:34

This Matters is pleased to publish episodes of the Toronto Star's podcast, "Road Trip: Electric Avenues," every Saturday. This week, we are proud to share the final episode in the series: When we started this podcast, we really wanted to visit each step of the EV production process to show a complete picture of the supply chain, but in the end, we …

1
City council gets ready for an expensive FIFA party 31:17

5M ago31:17

31:17

After The Star revealed many details of Toronto’s secret contract with FIFA for hosting the World Cup, the preparations led off the city council meeting this week. We talk about what we’ve learned and what we still don’t know. Council also passed a resolution to turn surface parking lots into housing, which led to yet another episode of War on the …

1
The last big-swinging prime minister 29:24

5M ago29:24

29:24

Guest: Susan Delacourt, politics columnist Former prime minister Brian Mulroney died late last month, and through this week as he’s lain in state, columnist Susan Delacourt has watched the long lines of dignitaries and functionaries who’ve come to greet his family and pay their respects. Delacourt walks us through her own memories and reflections f…

1
Canada set to have the best EV supply chain in the world 22:15

5M ago22:15

22:15

This Matters is pleased to publish episodes of the Toronto Star's podcast, "Road Trip: Electric Avenues," every Saturday. The next episode will be available next week here, or already in the Road Trip feed. This week, we are proud to share episode five: While China dominates the EV supply chain today, the ranking — put out by Bloomberg — really loo…

1
Is Canada heading toward a measles outbreak? 16:38

5M ago16:38

16:38

Guest: Megan Ogilvie, health reporter A global surge in measles has made its way to Canada, where there’s been almost twice as many cases just three months into this year than in all of 2023. Just in Ontario, as of Wednesday, public health officials have confirmed eight measles cases. Last year, there were seven cases in total for the entire year. …

1
A Star reporter was hacked and got a terrifying glimpse into a digital dystopia 22:53

5M ago22:53

22:53

Toronto Star national columnist Susan Delacourt recently had her X account (the platform formerly known as Twitter) hacked. It compromised her entire digital life, from her sensitive emails to her banking information, even her phone number and home address. The hacker tried to blackmail her and appeared to be targeting her for her work as a journal…

1
Can Ontario’s resource-extraction and industrial economy transition to the clean economy? 27:50

5M ago27:50

27:50

This Matters is pleased to publish episodes of the Toronto Star's podcast, "Road Trip: Electric Avenues," every Saturday. The next episode will be available next week here, or already in the Road Trip feed. This week, we are proud to share episode four: Steel is one of the biggest emitters of carbon in the world. Currently, steelmaking is responsib…

1
Women’s sports and other reasons for hope 41:35

5M ago41:35

41:35

Earlier this year, it seemed like the dream of a WNBA team in Toronto had died, but recent news revives the possibility, even if it won’t come until at least 2026. Speaking of sports in 2026, there’s more news about Toronto’s agreement to co-host the FIFA World Cup, and more to discuss about how costs are going to be shared. Ed wrote about a transp…

1
Women's bodies in the public eye 31:52

5M ago31:52

31:52

Guests: Tracy Moore of Cityline and Meredith Shaw of Breakfast Television Fat. Flattering. Big boned. Curvy. March 8 is International Women’s Day and to mark it we’re breaking down the negative ways we talk about women’s bodies. Most women are familiar with body shaming — none more so than women in the public eye. Meredith Shaw and Tracy Moore join…

1
Ontario has every stage in the EV supply chain right here at home 26:36

5M ago26:36

26:36

This Matters is pleased to publish episodes of the Toronto Star's podcast, "Road Trip: Electric Avenues," every Saturday. The next episode will be available next week here, or already in the Road Trip feed. Ontario is virtually unique in the world. Thanks to plentiful natural resources, clean energy and a large automotive sector, it has every stage…

1
What do Canadians want for their health care? 19:24

5M ago19:24

19:24

Guest: Dr. Tara Kiran, national lead for OurCare, scientist at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions at St. Michael’s Hospital and the University of Toronto A nationwide health-care crisis has led a group of medical researchers to criss-cross the country to hear how Canadians would fix primary care, the front door of the health system. It’s cal…

1
The Ultimate Choice: A family's journey reveals the political and ethical stakes behind Canada's debate around MAID 26:20

6M ago26:20

26:20

This Matters is pleased to publish the first episode of the Toronto Star, TVO and IJB collaborative podcast, The Ultimate Choice. The podcast follows the journey of Michael and his wife, Ann. Michael, housebound by pain and incurable disease, sees his choice for a medically assisted death (MAID) as a powerful solution to his suffering. The series e…

1
The first cobalt refinery in North America is in Canada 24:42

6M ago24:42

24:42

This Matters is pleased to publish episodes of the Toronto Star's podcast, Road Trip: Electric Avenues, every Saturday. The next episode will be available next week here, or already in the Road Trip feed. In episode 2, we visit a cobalt refinery in Cobalt, Ont. that’s running on renewable power and doubling as a battery recycling plant. Electra Bat…

1
‘Law & Order’ and porn and politics 49:06

6M ago49:06

49:06

The first episode of "Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent" aired this week, and we agree the city not only looked like itself, but looked beautiful too. But beautiful or not, this is still a very expensive place to live, and a new report shows it’s dragging down quality of life across the board. Does the Chow/Ford announcement this week offer any …

1
Facing our smartphone addiction 27:09

6M ago27:09

27:09

Guest: Richard Warnica, Toronto Star feature writer Richard Warnica sees it everywhere – business meetings, the subway, even at his own dinner table – the blank-eyed stare of someone mindlessly scrolling their smartphone. These devices, despite their increasingly documented negative effects on our mental health, have us firmly in their grips, and t…

1
Can EV batteries be made with Canadian minerals? 19:47

6M ago19:47

19:47

This Matters is pleased to publish episodes of the Toronto Star's podcast, Road Trip: Electric Avenues, every Saturday. The next episode will be available next week here, or already in the Road Trip feed. Toronto Star photographer Steve Russell and climate change reporter Marco Chown Oved went on a road trip through northern Ontario in the dead of …

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