Plus: U.S. alcohol will likely stay off Canadian shelves until the tariffs are dropped, U.S. officials provide an update this morning on the war in Iran, Canadians, once again, not making as many trips to the states, the Michael Jackson biopic hits the big screen today, and should Canada consider a smoke-free generation? We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future
episodes. You can find us:
Through email at [email protected]
Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky
Transcript
Frequency podcast network, stories that matter, podcasts that resonate.
Going to the FIFA World Cup or concert in Ontario might not cost an arm and a leg after
Ticketmaster announced its delisting resale tickets.
Hi, I'm Vergeshtave, this is Big Headlines, everything you need to know to be in the
know in just five minutes.
Ticketmaster is delisting resale tickets in Ontario, a head of legislation that will bring
a price cap into effect in the province.
A spokesperson for Ticketmaster Canada says it started notifying customers that resale
tickets must not exceed the original price to comply with the province's new requirements.
The company says customers will be able to re-list their tickets next week once the platform
has updated its resale marketplace.
The announcement from Ticketmaster comes after the four government's budget bill, which
includes the resale ticket price cap, past its third reading this week, but has yet to
receive royal ascent.
The new measures were prompted by many consumer complaints about tickets to popular events,
such as the World Series and the ARAZ tour being scooped up by resellers who posted
the seats way above face value.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says getting U.S. alcohol back on store shelves in Canada could
happen, but President Donald Trump will likely have to drop his tariffs first.
The comments come after White House officials warned the trade war could escalate if provincial
liquor stores don't return American products.
But conservative leader Pierre Paulierb says he's not concerned about the ban on U.S.
booze.
He says the real question is whether Canada can negotiate to renew its main free trade
pact with the U.S. and Mexico.
I don't think we need to spend three or four days debating whether we should drink
bourbon or not.
I think we should discuss whether 2.6 million Canadians are going to have their jobs.
And the way to get those jobs secured is to get a tariff-free trade deal with the U.S.
I'm the only one by the way who's presented a plan to get such a tariff-free trade deal.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford insists that U.S. alcohol will not be back on store shelves
until the Trump tariffs are gone.
Some encouraging signs this morning that the U.S. and Iran may be sitting down for potential
peace talks this weekend.
Iranian state media saying the foreign minister from Iran is going to begin a regional
tour this evening, where the stop in Islamabad or negotiations have been taking place.
Meanwhile, speaking this morning at the Pentagon, U.S. Secretary of State Pete Heggseth gave
an update on the ongoing war and the U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Not only is the blockade growing, in fact, a second aircraft carrier will join the blockade
in just a few days, but this growing blockade is also gone global.
Heggseth told reporters that the military is prepared to deal with any Iranian ships
that recklessly and irresponsibly lay more minds.
He said he would not speculate on reports that it will likely take six months to clear
the minds in the Strait.
Also making big headlines, month after month, Canadians are thinking twice about taking
a trip to the U.S.
According to new data from Statistics Canada, travel to the States has declined for a
14th consecutive month coinciding with the return of Donald Trump to the White House.
Times returning from the U.S. went down 12.5 percent in February compared to the same
time last year.
Overseas trips increased with Canadians taking 6.8 percent more trips that month.
The data comes at a time when travels poised to become increasingly difficult, with airlines
reducing flights due to higher jet fuel costs caused by the U.S. Israeli war on Iran.
It also comes as a poll finds U.S. President Trump's approval rating hits a second term
low as Americans express growing concerns about rising costs and the war with Iran.
The highly anticipated biopic Michael hits theaters today.
The new movie about the life of Michael Jackson follows the King of Pops rise to fame from
his early days with the Jackson 5 to his successful solo career.
However, reviews are mixed with the film scoring under 40 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.
The singer's nephew, Jafar Jackson, portrays Michael and has received praise from critics
who his performance say is dazzling and his appearance is uncanny.
The Hollywood reporter said the film delivers for lifelong fans who cherish the music.
However, the telegraph noted that it refused to address the elephant in the room referring
to the sexual abuse allegations surrounding Michael.
A historic non-disclosure agreement led to some footage referencing the allegations
getting cut from the movie.
If you haven't listened yet, today on the big story, should Canada consider a smoke-free
generation?
Host Maria Kastain speaks to Michael Chaiton, the senior scientist at the Center for
Addiction and Mental Health, and an associate professor at the Dalalana School of Public
Health at the University of Toronto.
How effective would a band like this actually be?
Logistically speaking, we know that, like in life, if people want something, they will
not let a law stop them from getting it.
I mean, will this actually do much of anything?
Most of our information right now is still theoretical, but we know that we can do a couple
of things.
One, it's like this from an enforcement standpoint, we know that we can do a pretty good job
at enforcing age of sale restrictions.
I think we can do a lot better, and we've come been kind of slacking on our, you know,
putting enforcement on there.
But we know how to do that, and we know what that looks like.
And that's fundamentally what this is.
It's like, again, you know, to compare it to the nicotine reduction strategies, that's
like a whole set of like chemistry tests, and that we would need to be able to implement
and lab setup across the country to be able to like spot-chat products, right?
But this is just, we can, you know, we know what this system is, and so we can do it.
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Now you're in the know.
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Today's episode was written by Kate Hayes and Rika Emma Turo is our lead producer.
I'm your host, Virjash Dev.
Diana Kay is the head of strategy and content, Desi Nair is our manager of podcast operations.
Maria Castain is our consulting producer, and Dylan McGuire is our associate producer.