Donald Trump has declared a war on drug cartels. He’s wielded the flow of narcotics, namely fentanyl, into the U.S. as one of the major reasons behind aspects of his global trade war. He’s added a number of cartels to the foreign terrorist organisations list. And last month, the Trump administration stepped things up by quietly signing a Pentagon directive to allow the use of military force against drug cartels. That led to a U.S. drone strike on a Venezuelan boat on international waters, killing all 11 on board. Now, the possibility of more attacks hangs over Venezuela and Mexico, another target of Trump’s cartel war. Alexander Aviña, an associate professor of Latin American history at Arizona State University joins us to talk about the impact of these recent escalations and what history tell us about how effective drug wars really are..For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
--------
26:56
--------
26:56
Fear, fury and Charlie Kirk’s killing
American conservative media figure and activist Charlie Kirk was one of the most prominent young voices of the American right. The founder of Turning Point USA, a close ally of Donald Trump, and a figure who helped shape the culture and pipeline of the MAGA movement.On Wednesday, he was shot at one of his trademark campus debate events at Utah Valley University.Will Sommer, a senior reporter with The Bulwark, joins the show to break down the shooting, how rhetoric around the killing is escalating, and how it all connects to the growing atmosphere of political violence in the United States.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
--------
28:05
--------
28:05
Will Trump declare ‘war’ on Chicago?
As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal forces into Chicago — a city he’s referred to as the ‘murder capital’ of the world — we have a look at Trump’s long standing focus on Chicago, and how the city became a favourite metaphor in conservative politics.This month, Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to send federal forces into Chicago to confront what he calls 'the most dangerous city in the world.'His fixation on Chicago stretches back more than a decade, echoed across conservative media that cast the city as a symbol of urban decay, plagued by “Black-on-Black crime” and in need of harsher policing. In reality, violent crime in Chicago is falling, and the nation’s highest rates are in southern states firmly in Trump’s column.So why target Chicago? And how did this Midwestern city become a metaphor for America — from gun violence and race to policing, housing, and migration?Natalie Moore is a longtime journalist in Chicago with WBEZ and author of ‘The South Side: a portrait of Chicago and American Segregation.’ She now teaches journalism at Northwestern University in Chicago. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
--------
30:50
--------
30:50
Politics! Carney government ramps up
This coming Monday, MPs return to Ottawa for Parliament’s fall session, with the health of Canada’s economy front and centre.Last Friday, Prime Minister Carney unveiled a new set of measures designed, he says, to make Canada’s economy more resilient in the face of persistent U.S. tariffs. We also now have a leaked list of the major infrastructure projects that are being considered for fast tracking.CBC senior Parliamentary writer, Aaron Wherry is here to discuss the challenges ahead for Carney’s government, with Parliament set to resume next week.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
--------
23:12
--------
23:12
Does Canada have a violent crime problem?
Over the last few weeks, horrific crimes have dominated headlines across the country.There was a father of four who was killed after at least three suspects broke into his home in Vaughan, Ontario. There was a mass stabbing attack on Hollow Water First Nation, just north of Winnipeg. The suspect had been out on bail. Last weekend in Edmonton, a woman was found shot to death in her car. The suspect in that case has a long history of run-ins with the law, including convictions for violent crimes, and was on probation at the time.Politicians from every level of government have been talking about this, saying that we are at crisis levels.So today, we’re trying to figure out what’s real here: is crime going up? For that, Irvin Waller, a Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa and the author of Science and Secrets of Ending Violent Crime joins the show. Then, Scott Reid, the co-founder of Feschuk.Reid communications and a political commentator, talks through the politics.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts
Front Burner is a daily news podcast that takes you deep into the stories shaping Canada and the world. Each morning, from Monday to Friday, host Jayme Poisson talks with the smartest people covering the biggest stories to help you understand what’s going on.We’re Canada’s number one news podcast and a trusted source of Canadian news. We cover Canadian news and Canadian politics, Prime Minister Mark Carney, Pierre Poilievre, the Donald Trump administration, 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. We will take a close look at Mark Carney’s first few weeks as Prime Minister, the Conservatives and Pierre Poilievre as well as the future of 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 issues like U.S.-Canada relations, 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, 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, the India-Pakistan conflict, and the U.S. economy 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.