ICYMI Canada: Building AI Ambition or Better Press Releases?

NEW - The Debate Canada Needs to Have and Keeps Not Having

A technical recession, a denied emergency debate, and a prime minister who promised less red tape. The Monday panel takes stock of where things actually stand.   Showing up is not the same as delivering. Mark Carney visited a Toronto synagogue to speak directly to the Jewish community after protests in Montreal included nooses and effigies on public streets. Jimmy Zoubris says the visit mattered. The speech, which produced an advisory council as its headline announcement, did not match the moment it was supposed to meet.   Two quarters down, and the fireworks aren't the point. Canada is the only G20 nation currently in a technical recession, and the opposition's request to debate it publicly was shut down. Lesley Kelly wants someone to stand up for affordability, not just complain. Jimmy Zoubris wants proposals with enough detail to pressure an MP over. And the conversation keeps landing on the same frustration: taxes that keep climbing, infrastructure that doesn't, and a bureaucracy that would spend eleven million dollars figuring out what to do with ten.   Topics: Canada technical recession 2025, Mark Carney antisemitism response, grocery surge pricing Canada, small business taxes red tape, Canada GDP decline   GUEST: Lesley Kelly | highheelsandcanolafields.com GUEST: Jimmy Zoubris Originally aired on 2026-06-01

NEW - Condom Prices Are Up. Youth Testing Rates Are Down. Here Is What That Means.

Before the price increase, young Canadians were already skipping condoms. Now the math gets harder. Let's Stop AIDS surveys young people across Canada every year. The numbers from the most recent Sex Lives Report are not what most people expect: roughly half of sexually active youth did not use a condom the last time they had sex, and more than half have never been tested for HIV or an STI. HIV rates are rising, with the prairies and Manitoba seeing some of the sharpest increases. Alex MacLeod points to a system with real gaps. Free condoms are available in some community health centres and organizations, but rural access is limited and stigma keeps some people away. Sex education, MacLeod notes, keeps coming up in surveys as something young people say did not prepare them for actual decisions they face in real life. Topics: condom prices Canada, youth sexual health, HIV prevention Canada, free condoms access, sex education gaps GUEST: Alex MacLeod | http://LetsStopAIDS.org [http://letsstopaids.org] Originally aired on 2026-06-01

Shiftheads - Three and a Half Million in Fake Jerseys. But Who Really is Getting Ripped Off?

Toronto Police just pulled three and a half million dollars worth of counterfeit jerseys out of a west-end warehouse, and the story of how it happened says more about who runs this city right now than the bust itself.   It was not a tip from a concerned citizen. A lawyer retained by a legitimate sports apparel manufacturer tracked the knockoffs, confirmed they were counterfeit, and handed it to police. Mark Mendelson says this is organized crime operating in plain sight — on Instagram, on TikTok, in parking lot tents across the GTA — because the demand is real and the math works. Three hundred dollars for a licensed jersey versus a hundred for one that might not survive the washing machine. With FIFA World Cup in Toronto, the timing of the enforcement is not a coincidence.   The question Mendelson raises is the one nobody in the press conference answered: where is this enforcement the other three hundred and sixty-four days of the year?   Topics: counterfeit jerseys Toronto, FIFA World Cup counterfeit bust, organized crime GTA, fake sports jerseys Canada, Toronto police seizure 2025   GUEST: Mark Mendelson | @markmendelson Originally aired on 2026-06-01

ICYMI - Dating: When Agreeing to Disagree Stops Working

Swiping past someone because their profile opens with a political slogan is now a dating strategy — and it might be the rational one. Tony Tedesco does it. Not because he disagrees, but because leading with that energy is a preview of every conversation to come. He's seen what happens when political differences stop being a quirk and start being a values gap. Jen Kirsch has a different approach: draw the line early, keep it light if you can, and know that nobody wins those arguments anyway. She learned that from years writing a column on reading the room — and from one car ride with her father that went sideways the moment someone mentioned the news. Topics: politics and dating, dating app red flags, political identity in relationships, relationship conflict, values alignment GUEST: Jen Kirsch, Tony Tedesco Originally aired on 2026-06-01

The Thrift Store Summer Nobody Planned but Everyone Needed

Thrift store summer is not a trend. It is a rational response to the cost of everything right now. Eighty-three percent of Albertans say thrifting makes economic sense given current conditions, and Habitat for Humanity Restore locations in Calgary are seeing ten percent more foot traffic than last year. The secondhand orbit has expanded well past Value Village. Marketplace, Kijiji, buy-nothing groups, garage sales in the right neighbourhoods, and a microphone bought from a guy in an alley are all part of the same equation. The hosts compare notes on what they own that is actually new. The answer is not much. Fast fashion gets donated. Thrifted pieces stay. The math on that is starting to land for a lot of Canadians. Topics: thrift store summer, secondhand shopping, cost of living Canada, vintage clothing, Habitat for Humanity Restore Originally aired on 2026-05-29