This Matters

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 journalist. While the "fake Susan" continues to be active on X, it's the real Susan that had to leave. This is the story of a hacking, what happens when someone tries to fix the situation and what this shows us about our disturbing and dystopian digital future. 

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 responsible for seven to nine percent of total global emissions. That’s about 2.6 billion tonnes of carbon — or four times more than all the emissions produced in Canada. And because most steel is made by melting down iron using coal, it’s very hard to decarbonize. In Sault Ste. Marie, Algoma Steel is transitioning its 100 year old coke oven and blast furnaces to electric arc furnace technology. It’s a change that will cut its carbon emissions by 70 per cent. Since Ontario’s electricity grid is so clean, Algoma Steel will become some of the cleanest steel on the planet. It’s already being used in EVs and will soon make its way into electrical towers and infrastructure used to build the clean economy.

Toronto Star photographer Steve Russell and climate change reporter Marco Chown Oved went on a road trip through northern Ontario in the dead of winter. It was cold, blizzarding and icy. They travelled 2,300 km during the coldest week of the year. And they did it in an electric vehicle (EV).

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 transportation miracle on King Street, and Emma discusses why a long-dormant disease should unite federal politicians. Plus, Toronto’s great Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) winning streak.

What would you like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and you can enter to win a $100 gift card.

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 us to talk about their own self-acceptance journeys, how they handle nasty viewer comments and whether they wish they could stop talking about it altogether.

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 in the EV supply chain right here at home. In theory, the province could mine the metals, make the batteries, produce the steel and assemble the electric car entirely in the province. But to plot a way to a more prosperous and environmentally responsible future, we need to look at our past. That’s why we headed to Cobalt, one of Ontario’s biggest mining boom towns, where great wealth was hauled out of the ground for more than a century, and now, very little remains. In episode three, we meet up with Charlie Angus, the local MP, former punk rocker, journalist and amateur historian.

Toronto Star photographer Steve Russell and climate change reporter Marco Chown Oved went on a road trip through northern Ontario in the dead of winter. It was cold, blizzarding and icy. They travelled 2,300 km during the coldest week of the year. And they did it in an electric vehicle (EV).

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 called the OurCare project, the largest initiative of this kind, and through it medical researchers have surveyed close to 10,000 people from across Canada to ask them about their access to a family doctor and what is most important to them in their primary health care. We take a look at some of those answers. You can read more about this nation-wide project and also take a quiz find out how your primary care measures up here.

This episode was produced by Saba Eitizaz and Paulo Marques

What would you like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and you can enter to win a $100 gift card.

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 explores Michael's motivations and how his decision affects his family, friends, and longtime doctor. Hosted by Toronto Star investigative reporter Rob Cribb, the podcast also challenges him to come to terms with his own family history as he dives into this highly charged story. Both a portrait of a family's autonomy and a hard-hitting exposé, The Ultimate Choice reveals the political and ethical stakes behind Canada's debate to expand MAID like never before.

In episode 1, The Request, Rob Cribb starts tracking down how Michael got to the point of wanting to end his life. Who will help him? Rob's own family history emerges. This story is more personal than he ever imagined.

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 Battery Materials bought the plant in 2018 and five years on, they’ve got the first cobalt refinery in North America, the only alternative for EV manufacturers who currently get their cobalt refined in China.

Toronto Star photographer Steve Russell and climate change reporter Marco Chown Oved went on a road trip through northern Ontario in the dead of winter. It was cold, blizzarding and icy. They travelled 2,300 km during the coldest week of the year. And they did it in an electric vehicle (EV). 

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 hope of change? Meanwhile, we discuss Emma's column about Pierre Poilievre’s pathetic porno politics. Plus, clarifying some comments on the police department and the budget issue.

What would you like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and you can enter to win a $100 gift card.

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 their utility and ubiquity makes it hard to envision how we’ll ever kick the habit. But once upon a time, most of us smoked, too, and virtually everywhere (on planes, trains, at work, in restaurants…). Will we one day look back on this the same way? PLUS: How Warnica deals with it at home by thinking inside the (locked) box.

This episode was produced by Paulo Marques, Julia De Laurentiis Johnston and Edward Keenan.

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 winter. It was cold, blizzarding and icy. They travelled 2,300 km during the coldest week of the year. And they did it in an electric vehicle (EV).

Sudbury, Ont., has some of the richest nickel deposits in the world and is already supplying some battery makers. In the future, Canadian nickel could replace the critical minerals needed for the huge batteries that power EVs, which currently come from some pretty awful places.

Join us for Episode 1 and a trip 2.5 km underground in one of Canada’s oldest mines.

On Valentine’s Day, hours before the Toronto women’s hockey team continued its rise in the standings, city council met to debate the mayor’s budget. Police got the money they were demanding: was that a good move or bad move by the mayor? And who knew plowing out the end of driveways would be the cause that united everyone? Meanwhile, a tax increase that was for years considered the third rail of Toronto politics seems less electric now that it’s done. PLUS: Emma’s most controversial architecture opinion.

Audio Source: Global News

Guests: Angelyn Francis and Kevin Jiang

Deepfakes are the latest manifestation of artificial intelligence-generated technology. They are false, but very lifelike, AI generated images of real people. Last month, deepfake pornographic images of Taylor Swift were viewed tens of millions of times on X, formerly known as Twitter, before being removed. The incident is raising serious concerns among experts who say the technology is being misused and often fuelled by misogyny, flooding the internet unchecked and unregulated. Angelyn Francis and Kevin Jiang, journalists in the Star's digital department, join "This Matters" to discuss and share a newsroom quiz on what’s real and what’s AI and offer some tips on how to spot an AI deepfake image. 

Audio sources: CBC News

Guest: Jennifer Pagliaro, staff reporter

When the proposed city budgets were announced (first by city staff and later by the mayor), the police chief and the association representing officers went on the offensive, threatening that funding levels would leave them unable to answer emergency calls and protect Torontonians. In the end, the cops got what they were asking for with the cooperation of the mayor, but the Star’s Jennifer Pagliaro looked into the claims being made and answers our questions about when a cut is not a cut, what 911 response times mean, and how small a percentage of the total budget was actually up for debate. PLUS: A different way to cut emergency response times to calls about crime. 

Audio Sources: CP24

This episode was produced by Edward Keenan, Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Sean Pattendon and Paulo Marques.

What would you like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and you can enter to win a $100 gift card.

In a cross-over episode of Toronto Star podcasts, This Matters' Ed Keenan interviews Road Trip: Electric Avenues'  Marco Chown Oved, the Star's climate change reporter. He and photographer (and EV owner) Steve Russell embarked upon a week-long road trip  – in an EV, of course – to visit sites around the province that will figure in this cleantech future.

It’s been one year since John Tory announced his surprise resignation and what difference those 12 months have made at city hall, never more in evidence than in the budget scheduled to be passed next week. We discuss what’s changed, why Mayor Olivia Chow seemed so pleased with the federal refugee funding, a prebudget meeting of council and more. As well, Premier Doug Ford deserves (partial) credit where it is due.

What would you like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and you can enter to win a $100 gift card.

Guest: Dr. Saskia Sivananthan, neuroscientist and health data scientist 

A new landmark study predicts that the number of Canadians living with dementia will increase by 187 per cent by 2050. That would mean more than 1.7 million Canadians with dementia, nearly three times the estimated 650,000 today. More than a quarter of them will be people from South and East Asia. The report also looks at a major shift in dementia demographics in Canada. Experts say we’re at a pivotal moment. This might be the only time to make the right decisions and choices to get ahead of an impending crisis. 

Guest: Richard Warnica, staff reporter

The housing crisis in Toronto, and in Canada, has become the dominant issue for politicians at all levels of government and for voters up and down the income spectrum. Star reporter Richard Warnica took a deep dive into the many facets of the issue, from the lack of public housing and the shortage of rentals to zoning and development delays, NIMBY objections to multiplexes, and construction that can’t keep up with population growth. Experts told him we need to do a lot of things, all at once, to make things better and that might mean changing our ideas of how we build housing, and where, and what kind. Plus: The one weird trick from Sweden’s history we should look at.

Guests: Maryam Affana, Mirvat Al-Sharafi and immigration lawyer Aidan Simardone 

Last month, Canada launched a new emergency program permitting up to 1,000 Palestinians who are extended family members of Canadian citizens or permanent residents to apply to come to Canada. Members of the Palestinian-Canadian community say they are struggling with delays, logistical issues and what some experts say is an unprecedented and invasive level of personal information requirements. They wait with the clock ticking for their trapped loved ones in a four-month war that has ravaged Gaza, with more than 27,000 people killed in Israeli airstrikes, thousands more displaced and almost half the population at risk of starvation according to the United Nations. Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada says that the multi-stage screening approach was developed to protect the safety of Canadians and is part of a standard practice where IRCC doesn't have presence on ground to conduct the initial screening and biometrics. In an emailed response to the Star, it has also shared that as of January 29, more than 900 applications are already being reviewed. IRCC confirmed they’re all still in the preliminary stages and not approved. We speak to Palestinian-Canadians impacted by this and later, an immigration lawyer helps us break down the new immigration measures and their implications. 

This episode was produced by Saba Eitizaz and Paulo Marques, with additional support from Ben Cohen. 

What you would like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and you can enter to win a $100 gift card.

Mayor Olivia Chow’s version of the city budget was released this week, and one of us was there in person at the Scarborough Town Centre to hear about it. The tax rate’s a bit lower, the feds came through with some money, the police still didn’t get as much as they want. So what do we think? And what’s left to fight about? Also, some jerk disrupted a women and trans shinny game in a Toronto park, something Emma says she’s experienced as a disturbing trend this year. And one of us explains why we're lamenting the loss of diners and doughnut shops as essential hangout spots he thinks are essential to decent city life. Plus, what has four thumbs and isn’t a big fan of raccoons? Our entire panel, that’s what.

Audio Sources: CP24, Global, Columbia

This episode was produced by Paulo Marques, Julia De Laurentiis Johnston, Emma Teitel and Edward Keenan.

What you would like to hear on Toronto Star podcasts? Let us know in this survey and you can enter to win a $100 gift card.