Podcast
PressProgress Sources
Hosted by PressProgress Sources · EN
An award-winning podcast that digs deeper into important and often unreported issues, by the non-profit digital news organization PressProgress. Join the PressProgress team for conversations with experts and newsmakers across the country, including Editor Luke LeBrun, Alberta reporter Stephen Magusiak, and Associate Editors Rumneek Johal and Jonathan Goldsbie. Produced by Ontario Reporter, Eric Wickham.
Winner of the 2024 Canadian Podcast Awards "Outstanding News and Current Affairs Series" category.
11episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
What encampment residents would say to Doug Ford
2w ago00:37:46Tap to summarizeSend us a note!"The homeless are not Other. They are Us," Ontario's Superior Court declared last month. In a ruling that had advocates cheering, Justice Michael Gibson affirmed that unhoused people are entitled to the same Charter rights as any other Canadian — and that a bylaw targeting a specific encampment for removal had therefore amounted to anti-homeless discrimination.This left Doug Ford fuming. But this isn't about the premier. Not mostly, anyway. It is, as our story explains, about the people who have nowhere else to go.On this episode of Sources, Eric Wickham travelled to Kitchener, Ont., to meet residents of the encampment at the centre of the landmark case, and spoke to Ashley Schuitema and Shannon Down, two of the lawyers who persuaded the court to recognize the dignity of their clients.Support the show
Transcribe →What changes to Freedom of Information laws mean for Ontario
Apr 1000:24:52Tap to summarizeSend us a note!A wave of changes is hitting Ontario, including one that is going to make finding things out about the province more difficult for reporters and the public. In March, Doug Ford announced that his government was going to change Freedom of Information Laws to exempt correspondence from himself and his cabinet ministers. These changes come after a court ruled that Ford’s personal cell phone records were subject to information requests. It’s been known for a long time that Ford conducts provincial business on his personal phone, so obviously - reporters have been trying to get to those records. Now - if these new rules are put in place, they can’t. The Trillium’s Queen’s Park Reporter Jack Hauen joins Ontario reporter Eric Wickham to talk about these proposed changes. Note:This interview was recorded on Wednesday April 1, so there is no mention of the province’s most recent proposal to change regional government by slashing councils in Simcoe and Niagara and giving an appointed regional chair “strong chair powers.”This new development was announced Thursday afternoon before the long weekend. Support the show
Transcribe →How to Save Canadian Healthcare, with Dr. Danyaal Raza
Mar 1800:22:18Tap to summarizeSend us a note!For decades, if you asked a Canadian to name something they appreciated about this country, our universal healthcare system would invariably come up. But in recent years, chronic underfunding, personnel shortages and the creep of privatization have taken their toll on a system that may or may not remain a point of national pride. On this episode of Sources, our health reporter, Brishti Basu, talks to Dr. Danyaal Raza, who believes Canada's public healthcare system — "one of the highest expressions of us caring for one another," as he puts it — should be a nation-building priority. Raza is a family doctor at Toronto's St. Michael's Hospital, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto, a board member at Canadian Doctors for Medicare and a research fellow at the Broadbent Institute (PressProgress is an editorially independent division of the institute.)They discuss promising models for healthcare already deployed in some parts of the country (team-based care!) and the acute threats the system is facing elsewhere, particularly in Alberta.You can also read the interview here.Support the show
Transcribe →Why was our reporter kicked out of an Alberta separatist event?
Feb 2700:13:45Tap to summarizeSend us a note!Late last month, thousands of Calgarians trekked to Stampede Park to pledge their support for Alberta separation. Trekking there, too, was our Alberta reporter, Stephen Magusiak.Unfortunately, he didn't get to stay for long.Before the rally even started — and just after he interviewed one of the organizers — Stephen was unceremoniously removed.They evidently didn't like his questions.On the new Sources, Stephen talks about what went down, and why the Alberta separatist movement feels more confident than ever.Links• "Alberta Separatists Kicked Us Out of Their Event After Asking About American Support" (PressProgress, Jan. 30, 2026)• "The Albertans Counting on America to Help Break Apart Canada" (PressProgress, July 25, 2025)• "Alberta Independence Rally in Calgary" livestream (Freedom Calendar on YouTube, Jan. 26, 2026)Support the show
Transcribe →Why won't Canada's government let Gazans come here to study?
Jan 2700:16:05Tap to summarizeSend us a note!More than 100 students have been stuck in limbo as they wait for the Canadian government to approve the visas that would allow them to come here for graduate school. At least 26 universities across the country have accepted them into a wide range of programs. But there's something the students have in common: they live in, or are from, Gaza. The Palestinian Students and Scholars at Risk Network (PSSAR) has been sounding the alarm about the unusual delays, while some of the applicants remain in places that have been, and continue to be, bombed. They say the response from the federal government — particularly from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada — has been wanting.On this episode of Sources, Nada El-Falou, PSSAR's director of student services, joins Ontario reporter Eric Wickham to discuss how Canada's inaction is endangering these students, and what can be done to get their visas finally approved.Links • CBC Radio's The Morning Edition - K-W – "Hear Sally Ghazi Ibaid’s audio submission to the University of Waterloo" (Dec. 18, 2024)• PressProgress – “More Than 100 Gazans Have Been Accepted to Canadian Universities. Canada Isn’t Letting Them In.” (Jan. 27, 2026)Support the show
Transcribe →The PressProgress Holiday Special
Dec 2300:55:41Tap to summarizeSend us a note!While, for the first time in decades, there’s a nonzero chance of Canada getting smaller (with Alberta maybe wanting out and the U.S. maybe wanting in), PressProgress, at least, is only getting bigger.That’s… something?On this extra-festive edition of Sources, Eric speaks to Emma, Stephen, Rumneek and Jonathan about some of the favourite stories they’ve worked on this year and the many ways that this place has grown.Stories discussed include:• "While workers walk the picket lines, DHL brings in scabs by the busload" (June 18)• "The Albertans Counting on America to Help Break Apart Canada" (July 25)• "There’s a Wave of Violence Targeting Canadian Sikhs, and the Government Seems Powerless to Stop It" (Nov. 18)• "Ben Mulroney is Blurring the Lines Between Journalism, Business, Lobbying and Partisan Politics" (Sept. 22)• "The Campaigns Targeting Canadian Doctors Who Want to Discuss the Health Crisis in Gaza" (Sept. 18)• "Journalist in Poilievre’s Viral 'Apple' Video Says Election Results Bring Him 'Satisfaction'" (April 30)And note: We recorded this episode before Elections Alberta gave its go-ahead to the separatists’ latest petition application, and also prior to the OneBC party losing official status in the BC legislature. A couple weeks, it turns out, really can be a long time in politics.Support the show
Transcribe →Looking Inside Mark Carney’s ‘Extremely Orwellian’ Austerity Budget
Nov 500:17:42Tap to summarizeSend us a note!Mark Carney is billing his first budget as an "investment budget," but with plans to eliminate 40,000 jobs in the federal public service and cut $60 billion in program spending, is this really an "investment budget" or is it an austerity budget?The 2025 federal budget gives Canadians a first look at the details behind Carney's plans to have federal departments cut 15% in spending, reduce the federal workforce by 10% and spend tens of billions of dollars on so-called "nation-building projects."On this episode of Sources, Canadian Labour Congress Senior Economist DT Cochrane joins PressProgress Editor Luke LeBrun live inside the federal budget media lock-up to share his first impressions on the Carney government's first budget.Support the show
Transcribe →Ostriches and deer and viruses, oh my!
Oct 2200:39:21Tap to summarizeSend us a note!An ostrich farm in rural British Columbia keeps making national and international headlines.It's the subject of a federal cull order, after 69 birds were found dead from an H5N1 or avian flu outbreak — routine procedure to stamp out further spread. But that's not entirely why they've caught the attention of U.S. politicians.On this episode of Sources, virologist and University of Saskatchewan professor Dr. Angela Rasmussen joins PressProgress health reporter Brishti Basu to talk about the very real health risks of zoonotic diseases and the political circus surrounding this particular flock of ostriches.Support the show
Transcribe →What a New Court Ruling Means for Encampments in Ontario
Sep 1000:21:57Tap to summarizeSend us a note!As the housing crisis persists throughout Ontario and across Canada, more and more municipalities are struggling with how to manage vulnerable residents in need of support. In Barrie, the mayor declared a state of emergency, so the city could more aggressively move to take apart encampments. But in Kitchener, a recent court decision concerning a longstanding encampment blocked the forcible removal of its residents, at least for now.On this episode of Sources, Ontario reporter Eric Wickham speaks to Ashley Schuitema, executive director and lawyer at Waterloo Region Community Legal Services, about the unfolding situation in Kitchener and beyond.Support the show
Transcribe →What You Need to Know About Air Canada’s Flight Attendants’ Strike
Aug 2200:24:17Tap to summarizeSend us a note!One of the top news stories in Canada this week was the tense stand-off between Air Canada and its 10,000 flight attendants.The Air Canada flight attendants' strike saw planes grounded across Canada as flight attendants demanded better pay, including an end to unpaid ground work. Then Mark Carney's government intervened and invoked a controversial section of the labour code to order flight attendants back-to-work, leading the flight attendants to announce they would be defying the Carney government's orders.On this episode of Sources, PressProgress' Labour Reporter Emma Arkell joins PressProgress Editor Luke LeBrun to unpack one of the most charged labour disputes in recent Canadian history.Support the show
Transcribe →