A Summer Break?! In This Economy?!

Microplastics are everywhere—and for the first time they've been found in penises of men suffering from erectile dysfunction. Does this mean there's a link between the two? Why have rates of infertility and ED been rising around the world? And why does it take a study that finds them in a penis to drive so much media than previous studies that have found these things in other places in the body?GUEST: Dr. Ranjith Ramasamy, reproductive urologist, study lead We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

They are majestic flying in a "v" overhead. A symbol of fall and spring. A true National treasure. And also, Canada geese can be...just total jerks.They flock to cities and universities, nesting and aggressively defending those nests, and leaving metric tons of goose poop just about everywhere. And you don't want to get on their bad side. This is the story of the many and varied efforts Canadian institutions have made to figure out how to live in peace with these creatures. If it's possible.GUEST: Tom Jokinen, writing in The Walrus We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

This is our last episode until the fall, so we thought we'd use the time to reflect on what we've learned so far, answer some of your feedback and talk about what's coming up next. In the meantime, we'll be revisiting a few of our earlier episodes and providing occasional news updates on events that matter to your wallet. Another Interest rate cut?! In this economy?!Thanks for listening and talk to you in September! Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or email us at [email protected]. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @InThisEconomyPod. Don't forget to leave a call-back number, so we can get in touch. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Mess with the finely balanced ecosystem of the ocean? On purpose?! What could go wrong?! But the truth is, we've messed with it already. The oceans suck up a lot of our carbon, and you may have noticed they get hotter every year. But what if there was a way to store carbon in the ocean, possibly forever, where it wouldn't do any damage?Welcome to the world of marine geoengineering—a field gaining a lot of attention, as well as a lot of investment, including in Canadian companies. We might not understand the depths of the ocean's ecosystem enough to ensure we won't do anything truly horrible...but eventually we might have no option but to try it anyway...GUEST: Moira Donovan, writing in The Walrus We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

British Columbia is introducing regulations that the province says will improve the lives of gig workers who deliver meals and offer rideshares—including a minimum wage while working and safe work protections among other things. Other regulations have slowly been introduced around the world.But do these protections actually help workers? Will the companies that pay them pass the prices along to consumers, or leave these jurisdictions altogether? As more and more jobs shift to this kind of work, what needs to be done to ensure workers can actually make a living doing it?GUEST: Valerio De Stefano, Canada Research Chair in Innovation in Law and Society at Osgoode Hall Law School at York University We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

Toronto-St. Paul's had been a Liberal seat for more than 30 years. Not anymore. In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Conservative candidate pulled off the upset and sent shockwaves through both parties, and the public. How did they do it?Everyone knew the Liberals, as well as Justin Trudeau, were unpopular—but if any riding was supposed to be safe for them it was this one. Now any sense of safety is out the window, and everyone wants to know what happens now...GUEST: Stephanie Taylor, Parliament Hill reporter, The Canadian Press We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

There's a record number of Toronto condominiums on the market right now, and despite record immigration, and an ever-worsening housing crisis, nobody seems to want to buy them.So how hard is it to offload a condo in one of North America's hottest property markets? What happened to all of the motivated buyers? And what does the trend say more broadly about the state of Canadian real estate? GUEST: Diana Zlomislic, Housing reporter for The Toronto Star We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

All NATO members are required to spend the equivalent of 2% of GDP on their military, and Canada has always fallen short of that benchmark. But now, more frequent domestic crises, mounting geopolitical turmoil, and harsh rhetoric from south of the border, may mean that it's time to put up or shut up when it comes to military spending. So where do the biggest gaps in our capabilities exist? How difficult will it be to remedy them? And what sort of military do we as Canadians actually want? GUEST: Matt Gurney, Columnist, Co-founder of The Line We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

On what is a sweltering weekend across much of Canada, we thought we'd revisit an episode that takes place in cooler climes. It's the quirky story of how a war fought using bottles of whisky led to the establishment of Canada's first and only land border with Europe. Enjoy! -----------------------------------------------------------ORIGINAL SHOW NOTES:50 years ago, a dispute arose between Canada and Denmark over Hans Island, a piece of land that exists almost exactly halfway between the coast of Nunavut and Greenland, a Danish territory. The island holds value as a hunting ground for local Indigenous populations, but holds no strategic or economic value for either nation. And yet, for five decades our two countries were unable to reach an agreement over ownership of the island. Canadian and Danish troops would, reportedly, exchange bottles of booze with one another, which is why the conflict is sometimes called the 'whisky war'.Recently, Canada, Greenland and Denmark reached an agreement that brought the conflict to the close. Essentially, they drew a line down the middle of the island, thus creating the first land border between Canada and Europe. So what does that actually mean in a geopolitical sense? Why did it take half a century to come up with a solution that sounds like it was written by a third grader? And as wider swathes of the region become accessible due to climate change, could the resolution serve as a framework for future Arctic diplomacy? GUEST: Martin Breum, Danish journalist and Arctic expert. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter

This month, schools across the country will be closing for the summer. And the kids? Well, their parents will have to figure out what to do with them. Nowadays, there's a lot of pressure to register kids for expensive camps and classes, but is all that really necessary? Can the kids just do nothing all summer? Jordan speaks with Alyson Schafer, one of Canada's leading parenting experts, to find some affordable ways to make sure the kids are safe and occupied this holiday. Here's a link to the episode about having kids! Do you have a money problem? Call us and leave a message at 416-935-5935. Or email us at [email protected]. You can also find us on Instagram and TikTok @InThisEconomyPod. Don't forget to leave a call-back number, so we can get in touch. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at [email protected] Or by calling 416-935-5935 and leaving us a voicemailOr @thebigstoryfpn on Twitter