Front Burner

In the 1980s and 90s, Satan and his followers were accused of brainwashing children, sacrificing babies, and infiltrating North American society on a massive scale — yet these thousands of alleged Satanists were nowhere to be found. Even so, the narrative became embedded in our cultural memory, warping everything it touched — including the lives of innocent people… And it never quite died out.In the new 8-part series, The Devil You Know, Sarah Marshall (You’re Wrong About) explores the tangled web of the Satanic Panic, in a journey that will take you everywhere from Victoria, B.C. to rural Kentucky to San Antonio, Texas. This is a show about the people who experienced the Satanic Panic in real-time — the believers, the skeptics, the bystanders, and the wrongfully-convicted. What was it like to be a psychologist told to look for Satanists in every case; a mother slowly recovering memories of supposed Satanic abuse; a teenager accused of conspiracy to murder? The stories of these eyewitnesses point us toward the real underlying problems — individual and societal — that the Panic was a response to. The fault, as ever, was not with Satanists, but in ourselves.You can find more episodes of The Devil You Know wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/TDYKxFB

Forged is a six-part series from CBC in Canada and ABC Australia. Host Adrian Stimson, an artist from the Siksika Nation, travels from Thunder Bay to the Northern Territory of Australia, to reveal what's believed to be the largest art crime fraud in the world.In this first episode, rock star Kevin Hearn of the Barenaked Ladies is doing rock star things — like buying paintings. And what better painting for an iconic Canadian rocker to buy than one by Norval Morrisseau, one of the most iconic Indigenous artists in Canada? But when Kevin’s Morrisseau painting is featured in an exhibit, it gets taken down because the head curator says it’s “questionable.” Kevin tries to get some answers but every answer leads to more questions. Host Adrian Stimson traces Kevin’s dogged quest to find out the truth about his painting — and learns how this one painting is the key to cracking a whole underworld open. More episodes of Forged are available here: https://link.mgln.ai/ForgedxFB

Today we're bringing you a 2025 Front Burner wrap up, answering audience questions and bringing you behind the scenes of the making of some of our most popular episodes of 2025.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In 2025 news of the biggest, most sensational sports scandals was broken not by ESPN or Sports Illustrated, but by a podcaster named Pablo Torre on his show Pablo Torre Finds Out.It was Pablo who investigated Kawhi Leonard’s alleged multi-million dollar under the table no show deal. And it was Pablo who uncovered potential collusion involving NFL player salaries.Pablo Torre is with us today to talk about the year in sports scandal, the state of sports journalism, and gambling grip’s grip on the whole industry.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Corruption is a word that’s come up throughout this year in relation to U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term. There have been allegations of personal enrichment, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars, through his family’s crypto and real estate ventures. There are also accusations of quid pro quo deals with foreign leaders and convicted criminals seeking pardons.Is this a bug in Trump’s administration, or a feature?To put it all into focus, Tommy Vietor is here. He’s been following this issue of corruption on his very popular podcast, Pod Save America. He also co-hosts Pod Save the World.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The Australian prime minister and police have said that the suspected gunmen in the Bondi Beach mass shooting at a Hanukkah event were motivated by Islamic State ideology. Australian counterterrorism officials allege the father and son received military training in southern Philippines. While it's been more than six years since the fall of the caliphate, experts like Lucas Webber say there’s been a troubling rise in Islamic State motivated activity and violence worldwide. Webber is a Senior Research Fellow at The Soufan Center and a Senior Threat Intelligence Analyst at Tech Against Terrorism. He joins us to talk about what’s known about the Bondi Beach attack, and what the evolving presence of ISIS as a decentralized terrorist network looks like.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

On the first day of his second term as U.S. president, Donald Trump signed an executive order effectively gutting USAID — the United States Agency for International Development. It's an arm of the government that, in 2024, was operating in more than 130 countries worldwide, providing food, medicine and other life-saving support.At the time, advocates said the cuts would result in preventable deaths from starvation, malnutrition, and easily treatable diseases. Now, nearly a year later, reporting from ProPublica suggests that’s what happened, particularly in several African countries.Anna Maria Barry-Jester, a reporter with ProPublica, breaks down her investigation into the fallout of the collapse of USAID.

It’s been almost a year since Alberta Premier Danielle Smith met with U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. He was on the brink of a trade war. Since then, a lot has happened, from a renewed push for a separatist referendum, to election recall campaigns, to a shift in the relationship between the province and Ottawa.We are joined by two CBC colleagues. Kathleen Petty is the host of the West of Centre podcast and Jason Markusoff is a writer and producer in Calgary.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today, an in-depth look at puberty blockers and their use on minors with gender dysphoria. These drugs have come under an enormous amount of scrutiny in recent years, with some questioning their benefits, safety and long-term impact.After banning the use of puberty blockers for gender treatment of people under 18, a new clinical trial in the U.K. aims to get to the bottom of those concerns.Azeen Ghorayshi is a science and gender reporter for the New York Times.She’ll parse through what we know and don’t know about the effects of blockers in minors, how this became a hugely divisive and politicized debate around the world, and whether this new trial could change our understanding.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

First, the latest on the massacre at Bondi Beach in Australia. The mass shooting targeted the Jewish community on the first day of Hanukkah.We speak with Sean Tarek Goodwin, a reporter with ABC News, who was one of the first to arrive on the scene.Second, a surprise defection on Parliament Hill.Late last week, just hours after Parliament wrapped for the year, the Liberals welcomed another floor crosser into the party. With 171 seats, they are now just one MP away from holding a majority.Aaron Wherry is a senior writer with CBC’s Parliamentary bureau.He’s here to talk about all that, and look back at Prime Minister Carney’s first sitting.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

‘Make America Great Again' has been Donald Trump’s brand for a decade, riding the movement’s anti-elitist wave into the presidency and remaking the Republican Party. But cracks are now showing in the coalition, raising questions about Trump’s commitment to MAGA goals. One of his staunchest allies has become his loudest critic: Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who recently announced she would resign her seat next year. CBC’s Washington correspondents — Katie Simpson, Paul Hunter and Willy Lowry — discuss if Greene’s defection is a sign of growing discontent from Trump’s base.

Every U.S. president releases a national security strategy document about a year into their term, but few have made as big a splash as Donald Trump's, earlier this month.The document formally spells out much of what we've come to expect from Trump's approach to foreign policy in his second term: political relationships are transactional, and American interests take priority above all else. The document also takes particular aim at Europe, and pledges explicit support for right-wing movements abroad.Bob Rae was, until recently, Canada's ambassador to the UN, following decades of political office including premier of Ontario. He reads between the document's lines and explains what it means for Canada — and asks how much of it is actually worth taking seriously.

It's estimated that as many as 10 per cent of adults in Canada use a GLP-1 type drug like Ozempic. The prescription medicine is used for type 2 diabetes management and increasingly prescribed off-label for weight loss. And this month, for the first time, the World Health Organization has conditionally recommended GLP-1 drugs for the long-term treatment of obesity.But while these drugs have been called a game-changing tool to manage a complex and stigmatized health condition, there’s also a lot of questions about the potential negative impact.With Ozempic’s patent set to expire soon in Canada, and more affordable generic options about to hit the market, a lot more people you know could end up on a weight-loss drug.Today we bring you the rise and risks of GLP-1s with help from Dylan Scott. He is a Senior Correspondent at Vox who covers health.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Two of the biggest media companies in the world are going to war over Warner Bros. Discovery, a massive media conglomerate that owns a historic Hollywood studio, as well as the likes of HBO and CNN. This week, Paramount put in a hostile all-cash takeover bid for Warner Brothers worth more than $108 billion. This followed Netflix’s announcement a few days earlier that they had won a bid to buy the company’s film, studio and streaming divisions, which alarmed many people in the industry. The Paramount bid is led by big time MAGA donor Larry Ellison and is backed by U.S President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Trump has already signaled he will be involved in whatever deal comes through. Lucas Shaw, who writes the Screentime newsletter for Bloomberg, talks us through what this means for media concentration, influence over the news and the future of the entertainment industry. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Through 2022 and 2023, two Vancouver activists made international headlines with DULF — the Drug User Liberation Front. In a bid to stop overdose deaths, founders Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx sold clean, tested drugs — bought on the dark web — to their members as an alternative to the contaminated street supply.But that international attention led to political blowback. DULF was raided by police, Kalicum and Nyx were arrested, and in November they were found guilty on drug trafficking charges. Now, they're arguing in a B.C. Supreme Court that, in shutting down DULF, the government violated drug users' Charter rights.Michelle Gamage, health reporter with the Tyee, explains why DULF did what they did, and how their ongoing court case could set a legal precedent for harm reduction efforts nationwide.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Today, we bring you a wrap on U.S. politics. We begin with two scandals plaguing U.S. defense secretary Pete Hegseth, from allegations of war crimes to a scathing report accusing him of mishandling classified military intelligence.And we cover the fallout from President Donald Trump’s tirade against Somali immigrants, including a surge of ICE raids in Minneapolis. Plus, the politics behind Trump’s win of the inaugural FIFA Peace Prize.Our guest is Alex Shephard, senior editor of The New Republic.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

In 2015, as governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney’s ‘Tragedy of the Horizons’ speech made waves in the global climate community. It was seen as a landmark call for the financial sector to recognize the costs of climate breakdown.But fast forward 10 years and a fierce debate is swirling around whether Carney is living up to that warning. Since becoming Prime Minister, he’s scrapped the consumer carbon tax, froze EV mandates and paved the way for a potential new pipeline to the B.C. coast.With a Trudeau-era environment minister resigning from Carney’s cabinet in protest, we’re asking the question: has Mark Carney betrayed the climate movement? Or is he playing a strategic long game that aims for an environmental win?Two writers from Canada’s National Observer, Ottawa Bureau Chief John Woodside and Calgary-based lead columnist Max Fawcett, join the show to take up that debate.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:  https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

The U.S. Supreme Court is soon expected to rule on the legality of President Donald Trump's sweeping worldwide tariffs. The court will rule on whether his use of a 1970s national security law violates the U.S. constitution, which clearly states that only Congress has the authority to implement taxes — of which tariffs are a type.But regardless of which way the court rules, Trump and his administration have made it clear that tariffs will continue to be a central pillar of both their economic and foreign policy. And, just over a year after they were first announced, those tariffs have had perhaps no bigger impact than here in Canada. They've reshaped not just our economic relationship with our closest trading partner, but they've fractured the political relationship too.Eric Miller, president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, explains what's at stake in the Supreme Court's ruling, and breaks down the impact of a year of Trump tariffs.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Last week, two National Guard soldiers were shot in Washington, D.C. after they were ambushed by a lone shooter near the airport. One was killed and the other remains in serious condition. The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, was shot and is still in hospital facing murder charges. The picture emerging of Lakanwal is of an isolated, deeply troubled man struggling to support his wife and five kids. Lakanwal is a 29-year-old Afghan-national who had served as part of an elite CIA-trained and backed paramilitary group known as the Zero Units. Tasked with carrying out some of the most dangerous missions in the war on terror, the Zero Units have also been accused by rights groups of war crimes in their notorious night raids.Kevin Maurer is a best-selling author and longtime reporter who spent many years covering the war in Afghanistan. He talks about how this shooting fits into the broader legacy of the war on terrorism and the ripple effects it’s had abroad and closer to home.  For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Our guest today has taken a long look at an out-of-fashion principle in higher learning – institutional neutrality. Basically it’s the importance of letting students and faculty say what they want, and not have the administration put its thumb on the scale. In that he sees a whole world of problems facing post-secondary education today, from public and political support to an ongoing court case.Simon Lewsen is a magazine journalist who teaches part-time at the University of Toronto. His new story in Maclean’s is called “The Battle for the Soul of the University”. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts