Quebec votes; Tribute to Jonathan Schell; Documentary - Spare change; Fighting climate change with geo-engineering; Marking the centenary of the Newfoundland Sealing Disaster

This week on The Sunday Edition for March 23, 2014.

Can playgrounds be too safe? (:25) Michael's essay on our age of hyper-vigilance about children's safety.

Quebec votes (4:56) When she called the election a month ago, Premier Pauline Marois thought it would be a cakewalk; many predicted the Parti Québécois would win a majority. Three astute Quebec observers - Bernie St-Laurent, Francine Pelletier and André Pratte - explain how that early optimism has dissipated (can you say ... PKP?)

Tribute to Jonathan Schell (32:48) One of the world's foremost experts on the politics and morality of nuclear weapons, died this week. His ground-breaking book, "The Fate of the Earth", began as an article in The New Yorker. We'll re-broadcast an excerpt of an interview he did with Michael in 2009; his ideas are still frighteningly relevant today. 

Documentary - Spare Change (39:53) For many of us, panhandlers provide a daily prick to the conscience. To give, or not to give? It is a complicated and fraught transaction for people with change in their pockets, and for those with their hands out. 

Fighting climate change with geo-engineering (59:22) A Canadian scientist explains his controversial plan to modify a fleet of jets to spray sulfates into the stratosphere, to reflect solar radiation away from the Earth.  David Keith, now of Harvard University, will be Michael's guest. 

Marking the centenary of the Newfoundland Sealing Disaster (1:25:05) In March, 1914, 79 men froze to death on the ice floes off Newfoundland. Michael talks to poet and novelist Michael Crummey, who has written the narration for the NFB film, "54 Hours" and to Jenny Higgins, author of the new book, "Perished."

Letters about fire safety on First Nations reserves (1:57:40) Your response to Michael's essay last week.