Schedule
Wednesday, February 1
THE NATION OF HOCKEY, Part 1
The back of our five dollar bill shows kids playing shinny on a timeless pond somewhere in Canada. But Calgary writer Bruce Dowbiggin argues that hockey is far more than simple nostalgia or big business. It's a clear window into the complexity of modern Canada: from shifting political power and economics, to multiculturalism and what we think it means to be a Canadian in the 21st century. Part 2 airs on Wednesday, February 8.
Thursday, February 2 - Friday, February 3
TALKING PHILOSOPHY: FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of a democratic society. Our liberty depends on free and open debate. How then are we to think about nasty, hurtful and offensive speech? Does it need to be heard and discussed? Join IDEAS host Paul Kennedy and philosophers Michael Blake, Simone Chambers and Arthur Ripstein as they freely debate the merits and the limits of expression, in even the freest of democracies.
Monday, February 6
THE ENRIGHT FILES - The Power of the Ultra Orthodox in Israel
Michael Enright, host of The Sunday Edition, explores the question of whether Israel is a true liberal democracy or a theocracy. A conversation with Anat Hoffman, founder of Women of the Wall and Gershom Gorenberg, author of The Unmaking of Israel,
Tuesday, February 7
CYBER/MASTER CLASS
Pinchas Zukerman is one of the world's greatest violinists. Conductor of Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra, he regularly goes down to a broom closet in the basement of the NAC to conduct master classes - over the internet - with aspiring soloists from all over the world: New York, Tokyo, London and Tel Aviv.
Wednesday, February 8
THE NATION OF HOCKEY, Part 2
The back of our five dollar bill shows kids playing shinny on a timeless pond somewhere in Canada. But Calgary writer Bruce Dowbiggin argues that hockey is far more than simple nostalgia or big business. It's a clear window into the complexity of modern Canada: from shifting political power and economics, to multiculturalism and what we think it means to be a Canadian in the 21st century. Conclusion.
Thursday, February 9
THE MUNK DEBATE
Be It Resolved North America Faces a Japan-style Era of High Unemployment and Slow Growth. Arguing for the resolution are Paul Krugman, Nobel Prize winner and one of the pre-eminent economists of our time, and David Rosenberg, Chief Economist and Strategist at Gluskin Sheff + Associates. Arguing against the resolution are Lawrence Summers, one of America's most influential economists, and until recently President Obama's director of the White House National Economic Council, and Ian Bremmer, founder and president of the Eurasia Group, a global political risk analysis firm. The Munk Debates are an initiative of the Aurea Foundation, a charitable organization founded in 2006 by Peter and Melanie Munk to "improve the quality and vitality of public debate in Canada." For more information, visit the Munk Debates website.
Friday, February 10
BOURGEOIS DIGNITY
Deirdre McCloskey is a contrarian among economists. She believes that ideas really matter, not just money and material reality. Wealth doesn't grow from economic factors alone. People's values and opinions, especially those of the industrious middle class, are more important.
Monday, February 13
104 PALL MALL
Ever since it was founded in 1836, London's exclusive Reform Club has been a place where progressive people meet to discuss radical politics. There's also a considerable Canadian connection. IDEAS host Paul Kennedy takes a guided tour.
Tuesday, February 14
SAY NO TO HAPPINESS
Life is about being happy, right? Just ask the Dalai Lama, or any of the best-selling authors on the subject, or the scientists who study the benefits of being happy. But are we losing something else along the way: the need for meaning in our lives? IDEAS producer Frank Faulk examines the tension between our desire for happiness and our need for meaning.
Wednesday, February 15
IN THEIR SHOES
Novelist Katherine Govier works with immigrant women, honing their English writing skills. With the Bata Shoe Museum, she's created a small exhibition featuring 'the shoes that brought me to Canada'. These women reach out to help other women "In Their Shoes".
Thursday, February 16
THUCYDIDES: THE FIRST JOURNALIST
About 2,500 years ago, Thucydides travelled ancient Greece, gathering stories about a brutal war that plunged the ancient world into chaos. He set high standards for accuracy, objectivity and thoroughness in his reporting. IDEAS producer Nicola Luksic explains why his account of the Peloponnesian War is relevant today.
Friday, February 17
THE LAST COMMANDMENT: THOU SHALL NOT BEGUILE
The print newspaper is down, but not out. It remains a close friend to hundreds of millions of people around the world - every day. Yet it is threatened on two fronts: its ability to adapt profitably to 21st century technology, and its declining trust-worthiness: Only 30 percent of Canadians trust journalists - and it's not clear whether they are the readers who have quit or the readers who remain. In the 2011 Dalton Camp Lecture, veteran journalist Neil Reynolds says that to increase trust, there must be an end to anonymous sources.
Monday, February 20
THE MEASURE OF A MAN
Armour. Identity. Stature. Brand. Broadcaster JJ Lee takes up a tape measure and shears and digs through the social history of the suit.
Tuesday, February 21
WACHTEL ON THE ARTS
A monthly IDEAS feature with CBC Radio's celebrated arts journalist Eleanor Wachtel. Each month, she takes an in-depth look at what's new, exciting and important in film, opera, the visual arts, theatre, dance and architecture.
Wednesday, February 22 - Thursday, February 23
WILLIAM NOTMAN OF MONTREAL
He arrived in Montreal in 1856 as a fugitive from the law. He became Canada's most successful photographer. A rare combination of canny businessman and master craftsman, William Notman embraced the wondrous new medium of photography and left us a unique record of Canada's social history. A portrait by Montreal writer Elaine Kalman Naves.
Friday, February 24
THE VANCOUVER HUMAN RIGHTS LECTURE - CUTE CATS AND THE ARAB SPRING
In the 2011 Vancouver Human Rights Lecture, Ethan Zuckerman, director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT, looks at the "cute cat" theory of internet activism, and how it helps explain the Arab Spring. He discusses how activists around the world are turning to social media tools which are extremely powerful, easy to use and difficult for governments to censor. The Vancouver Human Rights Lecture is co-sponsored by the UBC Continuing Studies, the Laurier Institution, and Yahoo.
Monday, February 27
THE SWERVE
In 1417, a Renaissance scribe and book hunter discovered an ancient manuscript in a monastery. That book was the Roman poet Lucretius' On the Nature of Things. Renowned scholar Stephen Greenblatt tells us how that discovery changed the world.
Tuesday, February 28
THE FOUR SEASONS OF MAVIS GALLANT
Mavis Gallant has written dozens of dazzling, sardonic, heart-breaking short stories. She is acknowledged as a master of the short-story and has been showered with honours. Yet she is not well known in her home country - Canada. Now in her 90th year, she still lives in the same small Parisian apartment she moved into shortly after her 30th birthday. Rome-based writer and journalist Megan Williams spent almost a week with Gallant in Paris, recording material for her documentary portrait: "The Four Seasons of Mavis Gallant."
Wednesday, February 29
LEGENDS OF THE CAYUGA
In their longhouses, the Cayuga tell stories of a world where hunters stalk a powerful bear in the sky, maple trees hold the secret to life, and a fearsome battle creates Niagara Falls. Dramatized, cast and recorded in Ohsweken, on the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory.
March
Thursday, March 1
WIHTIGO
The class of beings Cree people call Wihtigo, may be humans who've been transformed into something horrifying and dangerous. Maureen Matthews journeys to a village near Hudson's Bay to learn how stories about them reveal Cree moral teachings.
Friday, March 2
EMPIRE OF ILLUSION
Writer Chris Hedges argues that North American culture is dying because it has become transfixed by illusions about literacy, love, wisdom, happiness and democracy. Jim Brown explores Hedges' ideas about the mechanisms that keep us diverted from confronting the collapse around us.
Monday, March 5
THE ENRIGHT FILES - Conversations About The Economy
Michael Enright host of The Sunday Edition, talks with labour lawyer Brian Langille and labour activist Nancy Riche about what meaning, if any, the 'right to strike' still as. Also a conversation with Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Business about what is wrong with the stock market.
Tuesday, March 6
SILVER AND EXACT
That is how the poet Sylvia Plath referred to the mirror, an important artifact in science and art, literature and philosophy, magic and folklore. Karen Virag explores the history and cultural significance of the mirror, and rediscovers the wonder inherent in reflection.
Wednesday, March 7
KOESTLER
Arthur Koestler was a controversial journalist and thinker. He witnessed many of the 20th century's great upheavals, wars and revolutions. His influential anti-communist novel, Darkness at Noon, made him an international celebrity. Koestler's personal life was chaotic and makes for a compelling story as told by his biographer Michael Scammell.
Thursday, March 8
THE ART OF REASONING
A bronze bust of Pierre Bédard was recently unveiled in the Quebec National Assembly. Bédard was a journalist, politician, judge and nationalist leader Lower Canada, in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. He was an early advocate of responsible government. Bédard was also a philosopher who engaged in imaginary dialogues with Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot and Montesquieu. IDEAS host Paul Kennedy explores his significance for Quebec today.
Friday, March 9
THE SECOND LAW OF EVERYTHING
A deck of cards being shuffled, a basement becoming ever more cluttered, a car relentlessly rusting - these are all cited as examples of entropy, the reason things fall apart. But as Ian Wilkinson discovers, entropy is really about the transference of energy, and it underlies absolutely everything.
Monday, March 12
DEMON COAL, Part 1
Coal is dirty, toxic, abundant and cheap. Mining it disfigures the earth. Using it for fuel or electricity generation is unsustainable. Burning it emits deadly pollutants and greenhouse gases, and is the major cause of global warming. Right? Max Allen talks with environmentalists and energy scientists about why much conventional wisdom about coal in the 21st century is just plain wrong. Part 2 airs on Monday, March 19.
Tuesday, March 13
DAVID FRUM: CONSERVATISM FOR LIBERALS
America's most famous Canadian, outside of Hollywood, is David Frum.
He is a former editorial page editor of The Wall Street Journal, economic speechwriter for President George W. Bush, and the author of Comeback: Conservatism that Can Win Again. Frum speaks with Max Allen about the conservative wave in Canadian politics, the American medical system, Sarah Palin, and the evolution of his own political views - at the age of 14, he was a campaign volunteer for the NDP.
Wednesday, March 14
TBA
Thursday, March 15
SPEAKING FLOWERS
The kisaeng of Korea were female entertainers. Accomplished in fine arts, poetry and prose, they laid the foundation for Korean female literature and medicine, even as they occupied the lowest class of society. This intimate portrait by Gloria Chang unravels the legacy of these "skilled women", the Flower That Understands Words.
Friday, March 16
IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW
Harvard professor James Kugel is one of the world's leading biblical scholars. Ten years ago he was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer. His illness forced him to further reflect on themes he's been studying for decades - the nature of human spirituality and our changing conception of God.
Monday, March 19
DEMON COAL, Part 2
Coal is dirty, toxic, abundant and cheap. Mining it disfigures the earth. Using it for fuel or electricity generation is unsustainable. Burning it emits deadly pollutants and greenhouse gases, and is the major cause of global warming. Right? In this new two-part series, Max Allen talks with environmentalists and energy scientists about why much conventional wisdom about coal in the twenty-first century is just plain wrong.
Tuesday, March 20
WACHTEL ON THE ARTS
A monthly IDEAS feature with CBC Radio's celebrated arts journalist Eleanor Wachtel. Each month, she takes an in-depth look at what's new, exciting and important in film, opera, the visual arts, theatre, dance and architecture.
Wednesday, March 21
TBA
Thrusday, March 22
GEORGE MACMARTIN'S BIG CANOE TRIP
In 1905, George MacMartin, Treaty Commissioner for Ontario, accompanied by federal commissioners and native guides, journeyed through rapids and hiked through the wilds to meet with First Nations leaders. The result was James Bay Treaty Nine. The treaty put northern Ontario into Canadian hands, but First Nations' tradition is clear: their leaders agreed to share the land, not give it away. Historian Christopher Moore explores what the long lost diary of George MacMartin reveals and what it means today.
Friday, March 23
FUR, FORTUNE AND EMPIRE
Nowadays, wearing fashionable furs seems somewhat politically incorrect. But pelts and hides from beavers, raccoons and buffalo, and other animals, helped carve out the European settlement of North America. Eric Jay Dolin tells us how the fur trade settled Canada and the United States.
Monday, March 26 - Friday, March 30
WINTER: FIVE WINDOWS ON THE SEASON: THE 2011 CBC MASSEY LECTURES BY ADAM GOPNIK
The CBC Massey Lectures celebrates fifty years with bestselling author and famed New Yorker contributor Adam Gopnik. Winter: Five Windows on the Season, is a wide-ranging yet intimate tour of the season that shows how science, economics, psychology and religion made for a new and modern idea of winter. Throughout, Gopnik emphasizes a recurring theme: our love for the winter world outdoors can't be separated from the struggle to understand our own interior world.
