Front Burner

Over the last week or so the debate over Canada’s immigration policy has come to the forefront.

In Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith has promised to put a series of restrictive new immigration policies to a provincial referendum.

In Ottawa, Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre has brought forward a motion that would compel the federal government to review and restrict the services available to asylum seekers.

Critics have said both moves scapegoat immigrants.

This is all happening at a time when polling shows that popular support for immigration is on the decline.

Today's guest is someone who is uniquely positioned to talk about the proposed changes in immigration policy.

Jason Kenney is the former United Conservative Party Premier of Alberta.

Prior to that, Kenney spent nearly two decades in federal politics, and was a cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s Conservative party.

He spent years working on the immigration and multiculturalism file and was widely credited for shifting the support of new Canadians from the Liberals to the Conservatives.

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

Mass violence broke out on Sunday in Mexico after a military raid killed the most wanted, and feared, cartel boss in the country — a man known as El Mencho.

We take a closer look at the aftermath of the operation and ask some questions: who was this kingpin, what is the powerful criminal organization he presided over, and what could happen in his absence?

With us today is David Mora in Guadalajara. He’s the senior Mexico analyst at International Crisis Group.

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

From two heartbreaking hockey losses to the fiery debate over whether the men’s gold medal curling team was cheating, Milano Cortina 2026 was a dramatic one for Team Canada. The games also brought some headscratching moments like a Norwegian biathlete confessing to infidelity minutes after a race and an investigation into Olympic ski-jumping dubbed ‘penis-gate’.

We break down the storylines from the Winter Olympics that dominated our timelines and got us talking with senior contributor at CBC Sports, Shireen Ahmed.

On Thursday, former Prince Andrew was arrested by U.K. police.

After years of controversy, scandal and allegations of sexual assault, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was taken into custody on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

The arrest is related to his decades-long friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, and the former prince is alleged to have sent confidential government documents to the convicted sex offender.

Today, Andrew Lownie, a historian and the author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, joins the show. We get into the details of the arrest, the long-standing ties between the former prince and Epstein and what recently released documents reveal.

Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals welcomed a third Conservative floor crosser on Wednesday – Edmonton MP Matt Jeneroux.

And with three by-elections coming up, two from Liberal strongholds, a Liberal majority is looking like a possibility. So a pretty seismic day on Parliament Hill.

CBC’s senior writer Aaron Wherry is here to talk through how this could all play out for the Liberals and for Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party.

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