Front Burner

CBC

Front Burner is a daily news podcast taking you deep into the stories shaping Canada and the world. Host Jayme Poisson talks with the smartest people covering the biggest stories to help you navigate an unprecedented moment of crisis in this country. Find out what makes us Canada’s number one news podcast and a trusted source of Canadian news. New episodes drop daily, Monday to Friday.

We cover Canadian news and Canadian politics, Justin Trudeau, Pierre Poilievre, the Donald Trump administration, the upcoming 2025 Canadian election, provincial politics from Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario, and politicians Danielle Smith, David Eby and Doug Ford. We cover Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary as well as other municipalities across Canada.

In this Canadian election year, Front Burner will be focusing more on Canadian politics. After Trudeau’s departure as Prime Minister and leader of the Liberals, we are covering the Liberal leadership race and frontrunners Mark Carney and Chrystia Freeland. We will take a close look at the Conservatives and Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre as well as other leaders like Jagmeet Singh from the NDP and Quebec’s Yves-François Blanchet from the Bloc Québécois during the 2025 Canadian federal election. The podcast goes beyond Ottawa and digs deeper into major election issues like jobs, the economy, immigration, cost of living, housing and rental costs, taxes and tariffs, democracy and technology.

The Front Burner daily podcast covers Canadian news from every province and territory: Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Quebec, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nunavut, Northwest Territories and Yukon. We cover news from major cities like Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.

When U.S. President Donald Trump declares he wants to make Canada the 51st state, and decides to implement tariffs, Front Burner has an analysis into what is happening. We cover Elon Musk’s DOGE. We cover the latest in technology from the rise of bitcoin and crypto, the future of TikTok, Meta, artificial intelligence, influencers, and more.

Look to our archives to see fact-checked stories about infrastructure, fascism, border security, immigration, Pierre Poilievre, Justin Trudeau, the Republican Party, American politics, Canadian politics, India, China, Trump’s tariffs, Mark Carney, Elon Musk, Toronto, technology, artificial intelligence, international students, healthcare, and inflation. We cover global news like the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the ceasefire, the Ukraine-Russia war, and the U.S. economy, DOGE, and U.S. politics.

Front Burner is a part of your morning news routine. Whether you’re in Toronto or Vancouver or Washington, this is the news that matters to Canadians. We take a look at the economy and break it down from the budget to interest rate hikes to inflation to recessions to jobs to the cost of living. We look at the policy around housing, Canadian housing supply, and what this means for first-time home buyers, renters, and those with a mortgage. We look at technology, from AI to the manosphere to social media like Meta, Twitter, Facebook, and more. We look at influential newsmakers like Elon Musk and influential technology industries like crypto and AI.

#83 in the Top 100 news Monthly chart

...more

9 Listeners

All episodes

Best episodes

Seasons

Top 10 Front Burner Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Front Burner episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Front Burner for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Front Burner episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Donald Trump pleads not guilty, again

Front Burner

06/14/23 • 26 min

Former U.S. president Donald Trump pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to 37 federal criminal charges that he unlawfully kept national-security documents when he left office and lied to officials who sought to recover them. CBC’s Washington Correspondent Alex Panetta explains the evidence against him and the ramifications of this case for the next presidential election. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

2 Listeners

The Proud Boys on trial

Front Burner

01/17/23 • 27 min

This week, five leaders of the violent far-right group Proud Boys are on trial in Washington D.C., charged with seditious conspiracy for conspiring to overthrow the government, in the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. Andy Campbell is the author of We Are Proud Boys and reports on extremism as a Senior Editor at HuffPost. He’s been covering this story from the courtroom. And he’s with us today to explain how the case could reveal the inner-workings of the group, their connections with Republicans, and how the American government has responded to the threat extremist groups pose to democracy.

2 Listeners

Canadian Tech’s rightward drift

Front Burner

02/13/25 • 27 min

Following years of disillusionment with the federal Liberal party, some of Canada’s most high profile tech CEOs are leading a movement to bring their industry in line with the Conservative Party of Canada.

According to new reporting, a collection of Canada’s tech CEOs have been discussing plans to influence Canada’s future in a WhatsApp group called ‘Build Canada’. Canada’s tech sector was once closely bound to the Liberals and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, but many feel slighted by a government they feel failed to take their concerns seriously.

Catherine McIntyre is a reporter with The Logic, and joins us to discuss Canadian Tech’s rightward drift, whether it is a product of similar trends in the United States, and the implications for Canada’s future.

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

2 Listeners

Canada’s QAnon ‘Queen’ and her escalating rhetoric

Front Burner

12/06/21 • 24 min

For months, a B.C.-based QAnon conspiracy influencer named Romana Didulo has been amassing followers online, declaring herself the “Queen of Canada.” In the summer, her audience began distributing cease-and-desist letters across North America on her behalf, demanding a stop to COVID-19 restrictions. Recently, her rhetoric escalated when she urged her followers to “shoot to kill” anyone who administers vaccines to children. The RCMP have visited her since, and one of her followers in Laval, Que., was arrested after allegedly posting threats about his daughter’s school. Today on Front Burner, Vice World News reporter Mack Lamoureux discusses this influential QAnon figure, her active base of followers and law enforcement’s response.

1 Listener

COP26: A carbon capture reality check

Front Burner

11/03/21 • 22 min

Over 50 nations arrived at COP26 with net-zero emissions targets, but many rely on high hopes for carbon capture tech. Today, a reality check — will carbon capture help us, or provide excuses for more pollution?

1 Listener

COP26: A reality check on Canada’s climate targets

Front Burner

11/08/21 • 23 min

As the international climate change conference COP26 continues, we take a look at Canada’s 2030 emissions reduction target, and whether or not we’re actually on track to hit it.

1 Listener

How Succession keeps winning

Front Burner

12/15/21 • 28 min

HBO’s Succession came out of the gate quietly back in 2018. And even as critics raved over its stylish production, intricate plotting and viciously sharp humour, it took a while to catch on. Now, it’s easily one of the most influential and discussed TV shows in a long time. Structured like a chamber drama set in the corridors of elite power and influence, it revolves around the highly successful but highly dysfunctional Roy clan and their sprawling right wing media empire. The central conflict is between the brilliant and ruthless patriarch Logan Roy and his ambitious but flawed children, each vying for his love and attention while at the same time plotting to dethrone him. This week, its third season came to a dramatic end so today on Front Burner we talk to writer and showrunner of CBC’s Pop Chat podcast, Amil Niazi and Vulture’s Jackson McHenry on what makes Succession so compelling, and how it’s become a cultural institution. Warning: this episode contains major spoilers.

1 Listener

A car bomb’s impact on a Russia at war

Front Burner

08/26/22 • 22 min

On Saturday, a car bomb killed pro-war Russian commentator Darya Dugina on the outskirts of Moscow. Dugina was the daughter of ultranationalist philosopher Alexander Dugin, whose influence on Russian President Vladimir Putin is widely debated — leading to speculation the bomb was meant for Dugin himself. Today on Front Burner, The Guardian's Moscow correspondent Andrew Roth explains who Dugin is, the competing theories for who was responsible for the car bombing, and what impact the attack could have on how the war in Ukraine is fought.

1 Listener

The chaotic search for the Nova Scotia mass shooter

Front Burner

04/15/22 • 30 min

Nearly two years ago, denturist Gabriel Wortman, in a fake police cruiser and uniform, terrorized rural Nova Scotia and killed 22 people. Looking for answers, a public inquiry is now connecting the dots between how the killer evaded RCMP and the chaotic situation officers faced on the ground. For weeks, the Mass Casualty Commission has shared its findings, revealed critical documents, and gathered public testimony from witnesses. Today on Front Burner we hear RCMP testimony about how officers constantly felt a step behind the gunman – and how they eventually ended the rampage. CBC Nova Scotia reporter Elizabeth McMillan joins us to explain what happened on April 18 and 19, 2020 and what's still to come from the commission. (This episode originally played a clip that was misattributed. We've corrected the error.)

1 Listener

Lessons from the Los Angeles wildfires

Front Burner

01/15/25 • 25 min

Fires continue to burn in Los Angeles as millions of people remain under an extreme fire weather alert. The Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire have already flattened entire neighbourhoods in Los Angeles, leaving nothing but outlines and ash where homes once stood. It is expected that this will all amount to the worst natural disaster in American history in terms of cost and scale.

These fires raise major questions about the future of Los Angeles, who is to blame, insurance and just how prepared we are for worsening fires and other climate change fueled disasters.

To discuss the size and scope of these fires, and what can be learned from them, we’re joined by David Wallace-Wells, New York Times writer and columnist and author of The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming.

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

1 Listener

Show more best episodes

Featured in these lists

The best podcasts for Staying up to date on cultural news.

Curated by Andreina Romero

FAQ

How many episodes does Front Burner have?

Front Burner currently has 1739 episodes available.

What topics does Front Burner cover?

The podcast is about News and Podcasts.

What is the most popular episode on Front Burner?

The episode title 'The Proud Boys on trial' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Front Burner?

The average episode length on Front Burner is 25 minutes.

How often are episodes of Front Burner released?

Episodes of Front Burner are typically released every day.

When was the first episode of Front Burner?

The first episode of Front Burner was released on Oct 25, 2018.

Show more FAQ

Front Burner

CBC

Top 10 Front Burner Episodes

Featured in these lists

FAQ

How many episodes does Front Burner have?

What topics does Front Burner cover?

What is the most popular episode on Front Burner?

What is the average episode length on Front Burner?

How often are episodes of Front Burner released?

When was the first episode of Front Burner?

Comments