The Current CBC Radio

The prime minister's chief of staff, Katie Telford, will testify before a parliamentary committee Friday about the extent of Chinese interference in Canadian elections. Matt Galloway discusses what to expect, with our national affairs panel: Catherine Cullen, host of CBC Radio's The House; Kelly Cryderman, a political reporter for the Globe and Mail; and Ryan Tumilty, a parliamentary reporter for the National Post.

Sheima Benembarek’s new book, Halal Sex: The Intimate Lives of Muslim Women in North America, features the stories of six people pushing against cultural norms around sexuality and autonomy. We talk to Benembarek and Eman El-Husseini, one of the women featured in the book.

Many low-income Canadians don’t file taxes and miss out on refunds they’re entitled to. But now, a pilot program would automatically file those taxes — and could put cash in their pockets. We talk to Rebekah Smylie, the manager of financial empowerment at West Neighbourhood House, a non-profit in Toronto; and Jennifer Robson, an associate professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, who has been studying automatic tax filing.

Journalist Kara Swisher has been covering the tech industry since the earliest days of the internet. She joins us to discuss Twitter under Elon Musk, the rise of artificial intelligence, and weighing the good and bad of the internet.

Some comedians and scientists are using laughs to raise the alarm about climate change. We talk to Ben Carey, founder and the creative director of the Utopia Bureau, which describes itself as a "climate communications lab”; and Aaron Sachs, author of Stay Cool: Why Dark Comedy Matters in the Fight Against Climate Change.

A U.S. legal fight over the abortion drug mifepristone is prompting concern that the courts could set a precedent around access to other drugs. Matt Galloway talks to Elizabeth Janiak, an assistant professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive biology at Harvard Medical School; and Alice Ollstein, a health care reporter on Capitol Hill for Politico.