home > radio > ideas

Ideas, with host Paul Kennedy

Since November, on Fridays evenings at 7:00 MPBN has been broadcasting a program from CBC Radio called Ideas. This is primarily a documentary program; but not always. Ideas describes itself as "a program of contemporary thought" that explores social issues, geopolitics, culture and the arts, history, science, technology, biology, and the humanities: just about everything. These often powerful and illuminating documentaries can offer us new and varied perspectives that will stimulate thinking and help make the world a little smaller and better understood - another priority set forth in MPBN's strategic plan. Programs focus on a wide range of topics, including Al Qaeda and the road to 9/11, Canada's involvement in Afghanistan, the Canadian environmental movement, the conflict of the economy and the environment in the age of globalization as felt by Industry in Nova Scotia, Child soldiers from Sierra Leone, the status of women in Morocco, and how new energy sources such as hydrogen power may replace existing sources.

Here is the schedule of upcoming Ideas programs on MPBN:

Friday, 4/25/08
Remembering Polio, part 2 of 2
The polio epidemics of the 1950s struck thousands of Canadians, especially children. Braces, wheelchairs and the Iron Lung became symbols of the polio threat. By 1960, thanks to new vaccines, the virus was under control. Why then, almost fifty years later, are concerns about polio surfacing again? Maria Meindl traces the legacy of polio, a disease we thought we’d left behind.

Friday, 5/2/08
Mistakes Were Made - By Others!
Why do people dodge responsibility when things fall apart? Why can’t political figure own up to their blunders? What’s behind so many domestic fights? The distinguished social psychologist Elliot Aronson tells us about the power of cognitive dissonance.

Friday, 5/9/08
The Swatting Season
How did this show slip through the screen door? IDEAS producer Dave Redel scratches at humanity's burning question: what's the deal with mosquitoes?

Friday, 5/16/08
Losing the Arctic?
The threats posed by climate change, the resource potential of the Arctic, and new challenges to Canadian sovereignty have re-invigorated debate about the future of the north. In a talk recorded at St. Jerome’s University in Waterloo, Ken Coates discusses the contradictory influences at work in this important but little understood part of Canada.

Friday, 5/23/08
Blue Metropolis
IDEAS host Paul Kennedy reports from the 2008 Blue Metropolis Festival in Montreal, where writers from around the world meet to discuss matters of mutual concern.

Friday, 5 /30/08
Fighting for Peace
Canada is at war, and the nation’s role as peacekeeper is in disrepute. Noah Richler explores the credibility and the evolution of the idea of peacekeeping in the country that invented it. Among those heard are Lloyd Axworthy, Roméo Dallaire, Rudyard Griffiths, Margaret MacMillan and Janice Gross Stein.