PressProgress Sources – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Residents of Jasper Alberta are finally returning to the town that made international headlines after it was devastated by a monster wildfire in July.

Nearly a third of the town was damaged or destroyed, and the spot is currently closed to tourists for the foreseeable future.

How do we prevent climate change disasters in the future? It’s complicated, according former Alberta Firefighter Matt Rieger, who spent years on the front lines battling blazes while stationed at bases across the province.

Rieger joins host Stephen Magusiak to talk about the cost, the manpower problems, and the scale of effort it would take to meaningfully mitigate the risk as these fires get worse and more frequent.

We also discuss misconceptions online about the causes and the response effort following the disaster.

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Canada’s expert on the rising costs at the grocery store (no, not that one) joins host Stephen Magusiak to discuss his latest project, the Grocery Tracker, which monitors the price of food staples

Eric Wickham is a data journalist for the Toronto-based Hoser. He co-hosts and produces the Big Shiny Takes podcast.

Wickham recently wrote about the Loblaws boycott. He also produces Sources.

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Social media companies are enforcing an Indian Law that censors social media content critical of the Indian government and its ongoing crackdown in the Punjab state.

Canadian Sikhs have found themselves in the crosshairs of this aggressive campaign of censorship, harassment, and intimidation. 

The campaign has escalated on Facebook since the assassination of BC Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Canada, which was tied to the far-right nationalist Modi government, with posts being blocked and accounts banned just for talking about it.

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Dark money networks from out of province have set their sights on Manitoba.

Emily Leedham joins Stephen Magusiak to discuss her investigative series into the Canada Growth Council, a registered third party advertiser tied to Alberta and Saskatchewan conservatives, oil lobbyists, and an obscure religious sect known as the Plymouth Brethren.

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Far-right groups are planning a convoy to Toronto to “Save the Children,” and it’s already spinning out of control.

 PressProgress Editor Luke Lebrun joins Host Stephen Magusiak to talk about the convoy movement’s latest conspiratorial obsession, and what they have planned for the fall if they can get along enough to organize it. 

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Researcher Kurt Phillips with Canadian Anti-Hate Network joins Stephen Magusiak for a look at the recent wave of anti-LGBTQ2SA+ protests and hate crimes happening in Alberta and across Canada. From acts of vandalism, mobbing town councils and school board meetings, and chemtrail conspiracy theories, we take a look at what its about and where its coming from.

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PressProgress Ontario Reporter Mitchell Thompson joins Stephen Magusiak to talk about the Toronto mayoral race, and one unlikely candidate who stands out in the crowded field of conservative hopefuls.

Though still a long shot, former Toronto Sun columnist Anthony Furey has seen some momentum in the polls with his right wing populist positions and some big endorsements from right wing media figures like Conrad Black and Jordan Peterson.

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As funding for charter schools in Alberta increases rapidly, public schools are under attack. 

Rumneek Johal is joined by Wing Li with Support Our Students to discuss the rapid expansion of Charter schools in Alberta under conservative governments, and how they almost exclusively cater to elites using public funds, at the expense of everyday Albertans.

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Stephen Magusiak is joined by journalist Jeremy Appel to discuss what we know so far about the right wing group that appeared on the Alberta political landscape after the Coutts border blockade. 

Did Take Back Alberta come out of nowhere? We look at who their supporters are, who leads them, and what they’re trying to accomplish.

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The PressProgress team is joined by investigative reporter Sam Harper with Pivot to talk about the common threads and the common funders behind the right-wing networks that stretch across Canada.

We talk conspiracy theories, astroturf campaigns, Alberta dark money in Quebec, secret societies, and where the right-wing think tanks like The Fraser Institute fit into the bigger picture.

This panel discussion was part of the 2023 Progress Summit in Ottawa.

Check out Pivot https://pivot.quebec/

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Sources is edited by Eric Wickham

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