No, it's not a filter.

The yellow-orange haze cast upon much of Southern Ontario thanks to smoke drifting in from Northwestern wildfires. Toronto was ranked as having the worst air quality in the world for most of Wednesday according to IQAir. Although conditions are expected to ease as the city heads into the weekend, was there a way to prevent it from getting this bad in the first place? And if so - why wasn't Ontario ready?

Host Maria Kestane speaks to Dr. Lori Daniels, Professor in the faculty of Forestry and Environmental Stewardship at University of British Columbia. They discuss how Ontario has ended up here and how we can be better prepared for wildfire seasons to come.

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Plus: The U.S. and Iran exchange strikes, Trump is set to make a primetime speech, Canadians appear to have a more positive view on China, immigration changes are now in effect, and could an 'explosive' parasite reach Canadian produce

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Cyclospora: it's a microscopic organism found in water, but can spread to food-- especially produce. Found most commonly in wet and warm climates, it can travel into your grocery store through things like imported lettuce, raspberries, carrots, or more. And once you catch it, it causes some 'explosive' problems. Right now, more than half of US states-- with Michigan seeming to be the epicentre-- are dealing with out breaks, which begs the question, will Canada be next?

Today on The Big Story podcast, host Caryn Ceolin is speaking with Keith Warriner, a professor of food microbiology in the department of food science at the University of Guelph to find out what Cyclospora is, what it does to the human body, and what the risk of it coming to Canada really is.

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Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca

Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky