Front Burner

Section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms — the so-called "notwithstanding clause" — allows governments, both provincial and federal, to override sweeping sections of the other rights the Charter grants. It was intended as a last resort to prevent federal and judicial overreach, leaving power with elected officials, accountable to voters. A compromise demanded by premiers like Alberta's Peter Lougheed, the constitution almost certainly wouldn't exist without it.Since enacted in 1982, the clause has been very rarely used outside of Quebec. But in recent years, politicians have been using it — or promising to — more and more. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has now used it twice in less than month to preempt court challenges on controversial labour and transgender youth laws.University of Alberta political science professor Jared Wesley explains why governments are increasingly invoking this supposed last resort to achieve their goals, and the tensions it exposes in Canadian democracy.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

For decades there have been allegations that wealthy foreigners traveled into the Bosnian war, during the siege of Sarajevo, to shoot at besieged civilians for sport. That accusation is now the subject of an investigation by the public prosecutor's office in Milan, Italy.Today, we’re joined by Janine di Giovanni who covered the Bosnian war as a reporter for the Times of London, and lived through the siege of Sarajevo. She’s the author of two books on the war, and has covered 18 wars across her 35 years in journalism. She joins us to talk about ‘sniper tourism’, and the legacy of a defining European conflict. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Mark Carney’s Liberals survived a confidence vote on their first budget Monday night. It was a strange vote, with four members of the Conservatives and the NDP abstaining, as well as some voting chaos from two of the most powerful members of the Conservative Party.CBC’s senior Parliamentary writer Aaron Wherry breaks down how the vote went, what it tells us about Parliament right now, and whether the budget itself signals a new era of Liberal politics. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Over 75 years ago, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was established and signed by the newly formed United Nations after the atrocities of the Second World War to create a roadmap that establishes that every single person, regardless of who they are or where they’re from, has inalienable, inherent rights that the world must protect. But if you’ve been paying attention to the news at all lately, reality couldn’t seem further from that idea. Alex Neve is an international human rights lawyer and the former secretary general of Amnesty International Canada. He’s delivering this year’s Massey Lecture, broken into five parts, titled Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World. In it he goes through the massive challenges we face today and the things he’s learned from talking to people and bearing witness to human rights abuses from around the world. He also explores why the rights of some seem to take precedence over others. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

With the absolutely massive amounts of money tied up in the AI data centre boom, it's not hard to see why people fear a bubble. That worry has come into sharper focus in recent weeks, following comments from OpenAI and some big moves on the stock market.This recent round of bubble fear isn't about the tech itself. Rather, it's a growing realization that the boom is being funded in a way that’s starting to resemble some historically devastating bubbles of the past.Paul Kedrosky is a partner at the venture capital firm SK Ventures and a research fellow at MIT's Initiative for the Digital Economy. He explains why changes in the AI boom's financing are renewing fears of a bubble bursting, and the massive potential impacts if it does.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

It started with U.S. President Donald Trump's 'quips' about Canada becoming the 51st state. Nearly a year later, the Canada-U.S. relationship has weathered a barrage of tariffs, trade threats and taunts. CBC's Washington bureau — Paul Hunter, Katie Simpson and Willy Lowry — weigh in on the past year of Canada-U.S. relations under Trump, the current trade stalemate and whether the country that's been known as Canada's ally is even still a friend.

This week, thousands of pages of documents were released from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.Some suggest Donald Trump knew more about Epstein’s crimes than the President has let on –– though the White House has called it a smear job.These 23-thousand pages also tell a story that goes much further than the White House, giving insight into just how enmeshed Epstein was with global power-players and events.Murtaza Hussain, a national security and foreign affairs reporter for Drop Site News, joins the show to discuss all of this and to share what his reporting has uncovered about the link between Epstein, Israeli intelligence officials and more.

The decisions of one Conservative MP to cross the floor, and another to resign have sparked a wider conversation about whether Pierre Poilievre should remain leader of the party.Those moves also forced the Conservatives into their version of damage control, given the stories of intense pressure campaigns and disputed accounts of office screaming sessions.Two conservatives joined host Jayme Poisson with their take on how Poilievre and his supporters are managing this latest crisis.Fred DeLorey is the chair of Northstar Public Affairs. He was also former Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s national campaign director in 2021. Kate Harrison is the vice-chair for Summa Strategies, a public affairs firm that specializes in government relations.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau is dating the American pop star Katy Perry. He’s been spotted with her on her yacht, singing along at her concerts, and globetrotting with her hand in hand.It’s not the kind of post-political life Canadians are used to witnessing. So today, a look at the lives of Canadian Prime Ministers once they’ve left office and the post-electoral endeavors of American presidents.  Are they extensions of who they were as leaders or breaks from the past? Susan Delacourt is a longtime political journalist with the Toronto Star, and Gil Troy is a historian of American history and professor at McGill University. They join us to talk about the second acts of many of our most notable leaders.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

Nick Fuentes and his followers - Groypers - are working to push American conservatism and the MAGA movement into even more dangerous and reactionary territory. He started to gain a following in 2017 after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. On his show, America First, Fuentes openly praises Adolf Hitler and pushes white supremacist, Christian nationalist and antisemitic ideas. Fuentes, and his ideas moved one step closer to the mainstream last week when he sat down with Tucker Carlson, one of the most prominent right wing talk show hosts in the U.S.So we’re talking about this mainstreaming of his beliefs with Ali Breland, staff writer at The Atlantic, and Ben Lorber, senior research analyst at the social justice think tank Political Research Associates. Lorber is also the author of Safety through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism.For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts