The Current

The Current for Nov. 13, 2020

Today on The Current: The politicization of COVID-19 in Canada; Margaret Thatcher takes centre stage on Season 4 of The Crown; and Willie O’Ree on breaking the colour line.
Matt Galloway is the host of CBC Radio's The Current. (CBC)

Full Episode Transcript

Today on The Current:

With case counts surging across the country, Canadians are facing renewed threats of lockdowns to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. But as the second wave of the pandemic becomes increasingly politicized, our guests say public health officials' message of urgency is being lost on Canadians. To break down the issue, we're joined by Globe and Mail political reporter Marieke Walsh; Jason Markusoff, Alberta correspondent for Macleans; and Yudhvir Jaswal, group publisher at Y Media and host of South Asian Pulse. The Globe and Mail's health columnist, André Picard, also joins us for a COVID-19 update.

Then, as Season 4 of the Netflix series The Crown kicks off this weekend, there's much buzz about the agony and ecstasy of the House of Windsor as it moves into the 1980s. And many fans are looking forward to seeing how the era of "Thatcherism" plays out. We speak with June Purvis, emeritus professor of women's and gender history at the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., about the life and legacy of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.

Plus, he's known as the Jackie Robinson of hockey. We hear from Willie O'Ree, the NHL's first Black hockey player, about what it was like to break the colour line. His new book is called Willie: The Game-Changing Story of the NHL's First Black Player.