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Their last game in Toronto was in September of 2019. Since then, the Blue Jays have been on one of sports' longest odysseys—playing home games as the road team, then in Buffalo, then Florida and back to Buffalo again, waiting for permission to enter Canada.That finally changes next week as the team comes home on July 30. The exemption that allows them to do so is the result of months of back and forth between the team and the government. And it could provide an emotional boost for a country that needs one, and a team that could use a real home crowd behind it for a pennant race.GUEST: Shi Davidi, Sportsnet

Recent polls from across the spectrum show the Conservative Party of Canada struggling to mount a meaningful challenge to the Liberals in the next election—which seems to be fast approaching. More concerning than the low polling numbers is another statistic: The percentage of Canadians who would be willing to consider voting conservative. That’s at 41 percent, down seven points since 2019. The Conservative party’s current pool of voters is shrinking. Who are they losing, and why? What might bring them back into the fold? Are their other groups who might be drawn to a more centrist party and is the CPC willing to take the short-term pain of alienating a hard-right base to chase votes in the centre? GUEST: Max Fawcett

You’ve probably thrown something out when it was past the date on the package—even if it didn’t really seem like it had gone bad. Better safe than sorry, or as the campaign used to tell us, “When in doubt, throw it out.” But best before dates are not the same as expiry dates, and this misunderstanding is behind millions of kilograms of food wasted every year. Where did best before dates come from and what was their initial intention? Why does everything have a best before date now, even things like candy or chips … or water? How can we reverse decades of conditioning and teach people to use common sense and good judgement, rather than an arbitrary date, to determine when to toss otherwise edible food? GUEST: Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest

The public is currently being told to venture into the crown jewel of Vancouver’s park system “at their own risk” as dozens of people, including a two-year-old child, have been attacked by wild coyotes this year. And Stanley Park is not the only green space in Canada dealing with the newly-aggressive animals attacking human visitors. Something seems to have shifted in the way coyotes and humans are usually able to coexist in places like this, but what? How should cities deal with these animals? Are their options besides extermination? If given enough time, will the coyotes’ behaviour revert to form? And what will become of these parks if it doesn’t? GUEST: Colleen Cassady St. Clair, Professor, Biological Sciences, University of Alberta

Last week, retired general Jonathan Vance, former chief of the defence staff, was charged with obstruction of justice related to an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. That sounds like a shocking piece of news, but really it was an almost inevitable conclusion of the latest scandal that put Canada’s military justice system, or lack thereof, on the front pages. This has been a story for decades now, and various governments and the armed forces have frequently vowed to fix it. Committees are formed. Reports are written. Recommendations are made. And then we end up here. Again. Why? GUEST: Marie-Danielle Smith, Maclean’s

Most vaccines in Canada are administered by family doctors, so when Covid-19 vaccinations began to receive approval late in 2020, those physicians got ready to roll up their sleeves and dive in. But the call never came. While a few pilot projects let a relative handful of doctor’s offices receiving doses, the vast majority of family physicians were left out. And now that Canada’s vaccine uptake has plateaued and begun to decline, those doctors could be the key to reaching the holdouts. They want to leverage their relationships with patients to get results that mass clinics can’t. Will provincial governments let them into the game? GUEST: Dr. Elizabeth Muggah, President, Ontario College of Family Physicians

On Friday Canada’s largest province enters stage three of reopening—by far the biggest move since early this year, before the third wave of Covid-19 hit. Other places around the world have had varying degrees of success as they’ve come out of restrictions, but perhaps the best example to reassure anxious Canadians is out west, where Alberta has been almost back to normal for two weeks now, and—so far!—there has been no cause for concern. Is this really what back to normal feels like? What’s it like to realize you can remove your mask indoors if you want to? And is there a plan if cases do start to climb again? GUEST: Darcy Ropchan, video journalist, CityNews Edmonton

And why were the police so focused on the 15-month old’s parents in the wake of his death? Nathaniel died in 2015, after sustaining a severe brain injury. And in the weeks and months and years to come, the investigation narrowed to his parents as the prime suspects. It was a preoccupation that, in hindsight, many observers thought was strange. But then a reporter started asking questions about the investigation, and what happened that day, and how police conducted their work … and weeks later a charge was laid. Not against Nathaniel’s parents, but his babysitter, who is facing one count of manslaughter. What happened to Nathaniel, and what went so wrong with the investigation into his death? GUEST: Kevin Donovan, Chief Investigative Reporter, Toronto Star (Read Kevin’s five-part investigation right here.)

Right now, across Canada, there are questions around the names of places, institutions and even streets. The debate about whether or not we should rename something that honours problematic and sometimes racist historical figures is a question all sorts of organizations, from governments to companies to school boards are wrestling with. But more interesting questions come afterward. So you’ve decided to change a name: To what? Who gets a say? How exactly do you go about correcting the historical record? Do you wipe all references to the former person clean, or acknowledge the former name? And how minute can you get with the names of places and things before logistics become a problem? GUEST: Dr. Vidya Shah, York University  

If you spent time outdoors this weekend, we hope you did a thorough tick check when you got back inside. The creatures have been on the rise in Canada for years, and this summer is no exception. The increase is not just in numbers, but in wide swaths of habitat which used to be tick-free. Why is this happening? How can you spot them? Where are you likely to encounter them? And most importantly, if you find one, how can you remove it safely, and what do you need to do after that? GUEST: Justin Wood, founder of Geneticks

As the United States winds down its involvement in Afghanistan, things are becoming more and more dangerous for Afghan citizens who have aided soldiers over the past two decades. And nobody is in more danger than those who worked as interpreters for Canadian and allied forces. Years ago, Canada had a program to fast-track visas for Afghan interpreters, but it’s long gone. Now, veterans who served with the interpreters are sounding the alarm for the government to help hundreds of them and their families, who risked so much to help Canadians on the ground. Will the feds listen? GUEST: Lt.-Col. Mark Popov

Two people are dead, a town is all but destroyed and more than a thousand people have essentially become climate refugees. And that is the toll of just one of the hundreds of forest fires raging in British Columbia at the moment. But it's in the future of Lytton that we can get a glimpse of what Canada must grapple with. Do you rebuild a town in the hottest place in Canada, at a time when fire season is getting longer and more intense every year? Or do you simply expect people, many of whom belong to the Lytton First Nation, to pick up the pieces and head elsewhere—until "elsewhere" is threatened, too? GUEST: Monika Gul, News 1130, CityNews, Vancouver

The heated discussion over a full return to business as usual versus an embrace of remote, flexible work is often couched in language of productivity, creativity and efficiency. But as more and more corporations announce their post-pandemic plans, it’s becoming clear that there’s a bigger, deeper issue at stake: Control. What makes companies feel like in-person office work is essential? Why are workers so reluctant to give up their new flexibility, even when working from home can be fraught with problems? Are we entering a new era that could end the monoculture of the office… or just one more push from labour to be beaten back by The Man? GUEST: Charlie Warzel, journalist, Galaxy Brain

Now that vaccines are widely available to almost any Canadian who wants one, the focus turns to convincing people who haven’t had one yet to get their needle. It’s easier said than done, for more reasons than just hesitancy. And if our inbox is any indication, after months of mixed messaging, Canadians have a lot of questions. What does the science say about mixing mRNA vaccines? When will we have data and shots for kids under 12? How do various brands of vaccines cope with the Delta variant? And why does the threshold for herd immunity keep changing? GUEST: Sabina Vohra-Miller, clinical pharmacologist

Traditionally, Ontario (and parts of Quebec) would see outbreaks of the creature known as the Gypsy Moth every decade or more. But the past two years have seen back to back outbreaks, each of them much larger than what we’d seen in the past. And we’re currently not sure if this is an anomaly, or the new normal. What are these creatures and how did they get here? What do they do to the trees they attack? Do we have a plan to stop their explosive spread? And what can you do if you spot them on trees in your backyard or at your favourite park? GUEST: David Dutkiewicz, entomology technician, Invasive Species Centre

A lot of us are lucky enough that we’ve never thought of Canada Day as anything but a day off to enjoy all the country has to offer, and to celebrate the story we tell ourselves about this land. It’s a good story, honestly. But as so many of us have learned over the past year—it’s not true. So today we’ll hear some perspectives on Canada Day from people whose stories don’t often get heard on July 1, and maybe that can help us see what is both great and terrible about this country. GUESTS: Eva Jewell, Donnovan Bennett, Fatima Syed You can donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society by visiting their website.

First of all, what is a heat dome? How rare is it? How deadly? Are the all-time high temperatures the Pacific Northwest experienced this week an anomaly, or a terrifying glimpse of the new normal? Can we pin this all on a warming climate? Or is some of it an unlucky combination of weather systems? And if this is a sign of things to come, what do Canadians, and governments across the country, need to do to prepare for summers to come? GUEST: Katharine Hayhoe, climate scientist

Right now, the Bank of Canada is working on a "digital loonie" that will replace cash at some point in the future. Governments around the world are either following suit or way ahead of us. While banks have been giving their customers access to digital wallets for years, cryptocurrencies are attempting to corner the market on the next generation of money. The only thing that's clear to everyone is that actual cold, hard cash is not long for this world—with all the benefits and inequalities that will include. So in the race to become the next go-to source of currency ... who's winning? GUEST: Michael Doyle, freelance journalist and reporter

Last week, Core Development Group announced its intention to spend a billion dollars buying family homes in hot markets across Canada and converting them to rental units. On the surface, this would seem to bring badly needed family rentals into markets that are in desperate need of them—but there’s a lot more going on here than just that. What does a billion dollars in corporate money do to an already overheated housing market? Will these rental units be affordable for families that have been priced out of home ownership? How does a condo developer plan to become a landlord at a cross-Canada scale? And why do so many housing advocates warn this will set a dangerous precedent? GUEST: Rachelle Younglai, Real Estate Reporter, The Globe and Mail

Her real name is Romana Didulo, and over the past few months her following has grown to tens of thousands. And she's putting them to use in real life—handing out cease and desist "orders" to authorities and businesses across the country. The penalty she promises for not complying and removing all Covid-19 restrictions is death. Obviously, Didulo's claims are ridiculous, and completely false. There's zero truth to anything associated with her. But when organizations that work to combat extremism see a new figure rise to prominence and begin to immediately take their goals off the internet and into the streets ... they get very worried. GUEST: Peter Smith, journalist, Canadian Anti-Hate Network