How Ontario employers are getting away with $200 million in unpaid wages

Guest: Ghada Alsharif, Toronto Star immigration & work reporter A new report has revealed that workers in Ontario are being shortchanged by nearly $200 million in unpaid wages. It's called wage theft and, in many cases, workers aren't getting paid even after the province officially orders their employers to do so. Less than a quarter of the money sent to Ontario's Ministry of Finance for collection has actually been recovered, leaving tens of thousands of workers still out of pocket. In this episode, we speak with Toronto Star reporter Ghada Alsharif about her latest three-part investigation into Ontario's growing wage theft crisis, and how the province's weak enforcement system is allowing employers to avoid accountability, from shell companies to disappearing franchises. This episode was mixed by Paulo Marques

Guest: Mike Wilner, baseball columnist & host of Deep Left Field baseball podcast For the first time in 32 years, the Blue Jays have a shot at winning the World Series, with Game 1 against the LA Dodgers happening tonight. It's been a long road to get here: waiting for conditions to be just right; to have the right players in place; for hard work and alchemy to strike that optimal balance. Whether you've been paying attention to this team for years or just since the start of this crucial round of October playoff baseball, this episode has all the colourful context and fascinating anecdotes you'll need to get up to speed for the big game and the big series ahead. Mike Wilner, former Blue Jays broadcaster, Toronto Star baseball columnist and host of baseball podcast Deep Left Field, is the guest on the show today to give you all that inside baseball knowledge before you tune in. PLUS: Hero of the moment George Springer has an unsavoury baseball past - do you know about it? Mike Wilner weighs in. Produced by Julia De Laurentiis Johnston & Sean Pattendon

Guest: Nicholas Keung, Toronto Star immigration reporter A federal bill that could restore citizenship to people born abroad is drawing renewed political debate over who qualifies as Canadian and what rules should apply. Bill C-3 was introduced after a court found Canada's two-generation limit on citizenship by descent to be unconstitutional. The proposed legislation would allow Canadians born outside the country to pass citizenship to their children, even if those children are also born abroad, provided certain conditions are met. Recent amendments have added new hurdles including language requirements, security checks, and a more restrictive residency test. Supporters argue the bill finally addresses long-standing exclusions faced by so-called "Lost Canadians," while critics warn the changes could either enable Canadian citizenship without meaningful connection or reintroduce unfair barriers under a different form. On this episode we break down what's changing, who this affects, and what happens next as the bill moves toward a November deadline to be passed. This episode was mixed by Paulo Marques

Guest: Ben Cohen, Toronto Star City Hall reporter Electric scooters weaving through sidewalks, e-bikes flying through intersections, and mopeds cutting into bike lanes have become a common sight in Toronto. The city is being rapidly reshaped by the rise of micromobility; fast, electric vehicles that don't require a driver's licence or plates and remain only lightly regulated. The result has been more collisions, rising emergency room visits and growing confusion over who belongs where. While city officials and police have launched enforcement and education campaigns, the rules remain unclear. Star reporter Ben Cohen spent an hour watching micro-mobility traffic on Adelaide Street and documented more than 30 unsafe or illegal incidents, offering a glimpse into a city struggling to manage this fast-changing way of moving. This episode was mixed by Paulo Marques

Guest: Mike Wilner, baseball columnist & host of Deep Left Field baseball podcast The Blue Jays are currently battling the Seattle Mariners in the American League Championship Series (or ALCS for short), the one that precedes the World Series. Getting this far in the season has Toronto whipped into a lather at the possibility that their team may be within grasp of the big prize. A prize that likely feels a little further away after last night's game: the Jays lost, for the second time in this particular series, which is a best of seven. Ten years ago, the Jays were also two games down in a playoff series against the Texas Rangers, beat on their home turf both times. But they crawled back to win that series with the Jose Bautista bat flip as the pinnacle of that triumphant return. Today marks the 10 year anniversary of that bat flip and Mike Wilner, baseball columnist at the Star and host the Star's Deep Left Field baseball podcast, talks about the oral history both of that moment and one the Blue Jays currently find themselves in. Plus: Wilner tells you all you need to know about how to predict who's gonna win when it comes to baseball Bonus: Check out this video we made to commemorate the moment, Two Bat Flips, 10 Years Apart Produced by Julia De Laurentiis Johnston & Sean Pattendon Sources: MLB

Guest: Andy Takagi, Toronto Star transportation reporter Many of us know this pain too well: waiting on a very late bus or crawling between subway stations with no idea when we'll get to where we're trying to go. Long commutes can famously take a real toll on your quality of life and Andy Takagi is walking a mile - or, rather, commuting several miles - in the shoes of those who claim to have the worst commutes in the city. Andy shares insights from his written series on the subject, The Worst Commute, where he's tested the city's most painful transit routes firsthand—from the longest journeys to very noisey routes. He discusses what makes these commutes so frustrating and offers ideas on how the TTC and the city could make life easier for commuters. Produced by Julia De Laurentiis Johnston & Paulo Marques

Guest: Omar Mosleh, Toronto Star reporter The RCMP says it has dismantled one of the largest dark web drug networks in Canadian history, a GTA-based group called RoadRunna that was allegedly shipping about 400 packages of drugs a week across Canada, including through Canada Post. Seven people from Toronto, Brampton and Mississauga are facing charges after officers seized 75 kilograms of cocaine, MDMA, heroin, meth, ketamine and more than 10,000 pills.  But the RoadRunna bust is part of a larger story of how the dark web continues to be a hub for traffickers, how criminals are switching to more sophisticated tools from Bitcoin to Monero and even to encrypted apps like Telegram, and how police are finding cracks in what was once seen as an anonymous online safe haven.Experts warn that while these takedowns are significant, dark web markets rarely stay offline for long. This episode was mixed by Paulo Marques

In honour of the Blue Jays playoff run starting tomorrow, we're sharing an episode from our sister podcast Deep Left Field. Guest: RUSH frontman and Blue Jays fanatic Geddy Lee The Blue Jays are on the eve of their American League division series against the New York Yankees, which begins Saturday afternoon. We talk to the Jays' most famous fan, the lead singer, bassist and keyboardist from the legendary Canadian rock band Rush, who also happens to be a massive baseball geek. Geddy Lee shares his thoughts on the Blue Jays' worst-to-first season, how much fun he's had watching the team and how large a part of their success all the unsung heroes have been. We also look at the ALDS match-up with the Yankees and open up the mailbag at [email protected]!

Guest: Steve Teekens, Executive Director, Na-Me-Res, a Toronto-based Indigenous-run non-profit that provides temporary, transitional and permanent housing Indigenous people make up less than one per cent of Toronto's population, but about 15 percent of the city's homeless. Nationally, they are around 5 percent of the population yet account for more than a third of those without homes. These numbers reflect the ongoing legacy of residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, and systems that continue to fail Indigenous communities. For Indigenous men especially, homelessness is closely tied to untreated mental illness and addiction. Advocates say ending Indigenous homelessness isn't just policy; it's a part of reconciliation. Na-Me-Res, an Indigenous-led organization in Toronto, has been working on shelters, transitional programs, and affordable housing. On this National day for Truth and Reconciliation, we speak to the organization's Executive Director Steve Teekens —to talk about the crisis — and to share his own family's story as the grandson of residential school survivors and the son of a Sixties Scoop survivor. The Indian Residential Schools Crisis Line is available 24-hours a day for anyone experiencing pain or distress as a result of a residential school experience. Support is available at 1-866-925-4419. This episode was mixed by Paulo Marques

Guest: Ava Smithing, advocacy director at the Young People's Alliance Young people today have been raised with the most powerful tools in human history at their fingertips. Entire childhoods have played out online, with algorithms acting as babysitter, therapist, and mirror through which they see themselves. And now, we're seeing what happens when the first generation raised on smart phones comes of age; shaped by platforms designed to manipulate attention and monetize minds. Ava Smithing was just 12 when she spiraled into a social media rabbit hole that nearly took her life. Years later, she walked the halls of Congress to warn lawmakers about the harms of Big Tech. Now, she's the host of the Toronto Star's new podcast series Left to Their Own Devices that takes a hard look at what happens when kids are left to figure it out alone. She joins This Matters to talk about what led her here. Produced by Paulo Marques and Sean Pattendon