The Current

The Current for May 15, 2020

Today on The Current: Provinces beginning to re-open; Three of Canada’s brightest on who we’ll be after the pandemic; Stuart McLean’s Vinyl Cafe: No Tax on Truffles; Mother-daughter TikTok team; Tapping maple syrup in The Sugarbush; Choirs finding ways to sing together, while apart; Obamagate; Man makes hundreds of pies in lockdown for his community
Matt Galloway is the host of CBC Radio's The Current. (CBC)

Full Episode Transcript

Today on The Current:

We talk to three reporters in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario to hear about plans to re-open the provinces, and how COVID-19 has impacted their communities.

Then, we ask three of Canada's finest how they feel about the way the country has responded to COVID-19, and what we might be like after the pandemic passes. Matt Galloway is joined by Giller Prize-winner Madeleine Thien, Olympian Clara Hughes and entrepreneur and philanthropist Mohamad Fakih.

Plus, we pay a visit to the Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean's classic story No Tax on Truffles[Note: The Vinyl Cafe story that aired in this broadcast is no longer available online.]

With parents and kids in lockdown, dance challenges on TikTok have become a family affair. Associate professor Shauna Pomerantz is studying creativity on the social media platform, with some help from her daughter/co-researcher, 11-year-old Miriam. They tell us about doing mom-daughter dances in lockdown — for science!

Then, on a reserve just outside Thunder Bay, freelance journalist Jolene Banning has been determined to tap maple syrup, a tradition her ancestors began many years ago. She brings us her story, The Sugarbush.

Plus, choirs are finding ways to sing together online through the pandemic. But with warnings against in-person practice before a vaccine is found, how long can they keep it up? We'll ask conductor Kathleen Allan of the Amadeus Choir of Greater Toronto.

Also, President Trump accused his predecessor Barack Obama of unnamed crimes earlier this week. We ask the Washington Post's national political reporter Matt Viser what's behind the accusation, and what effect Obama could have on the 2020 election.

And we talk to Toronto man Bradley Harder, who is passing time in the pandemic by baking more than 200 pies for members of his community.