Episodes

  • Is it time for a Canuck-mobile?
    May 23 2025

    Germany has Volkswagen. Japan has Toyota. So why doesn't Canada have a car? We explore what it would take to build an all-Canadian automobile.

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    28 mins
  • A manufactured economy
    May 17 2025

    Trump tariffs are supposed to "Make Manufacturing Great Again." Only, robots are a thing now. So why is he scrambling up the global economy when the factory jobs he talks about are stuck in the 1970s?

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    28 mins
  • Can we make houses like we make cars?
    May 10 2025

    Prefab housing is getting a lot of attention as a way to solve the housing crisis. But so far, it hasn't caught on in a big way. So what would it take to transform housing construction into something closer to the auto industry?

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    28 mins
  • Build, baby, build
    May 3 2025

    Leaders in Canada are talking about building a lot of stuff right now: pipelines, ports, railways and highways. As one expert puts it, "We can build anything. But we can't build everything." So what should go ahead? And how much will it cost?

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    26 mins
  • Breaking up Big Tech
    Apr 25 2025

    Sure, the internet belongs to everyone. But a handful of big companies exert a tremendous amount of control over it. Now two of them, Meta and Google, face antitrust charges in the United States. So what does this mean for the future of our online experience?

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    28 mins
  • Is the best economic offence, more spending on defence?
    Apr 18 2025

    With Canada under pressure to meet its NATO commitments, the Liberals, Conservatives and NDP are making promises to increase military spending. So, could we leverage that money to spur innovation and boost the Canadian economy?

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    28 mins
  • How's everybody doing?
    Apr 12 2025

    It's not a trivial question. In fact, how people are feeling about their finances can be a key economic indicator. And right now, that indicator is flashing red. So we thought we'd fan out across the country and ask people — how's it going?

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    28 mins
  • BONUS! Why there's no referee for the trade war (The Indicator from NPR’s Planet Money)
    Apr 7 2025

    Thirty years ago, the U.S. helped create the World Trade Organization, a group of countries linked by a common set of free trade agreements. But then, starting with the Obama administration, the country turned against the WTO. This leaves a void where there should be a referee to settle trade disputes between countries. On this episode of NPR's The Indicator from Planet Money, how American grievances paralyzed the WTO's dispute settlement system and what happens when the U.S. no longer wants to play by the rules it once agreed to.


    More episodes of The Indicator are available at: https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510325/the-indicator-from-planet-money

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    10 mins
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