Host Sam Konnert takes us inside the government, specifically, inside a single lab within Environment and Climate Change Canada. A lab tasked with making sure our water is clean and our food is plastic-free. A lab that could go from nine PhD-level scientists, down to one. 

What happens to the country when these workers get cut, and entire labs are decimated? Who pays the price?

Clarification (March 17,2026): This episode uses the term “lab” to refer to a national research division with scientists based around the country, not to a specific physical facility. 

Host: Sam Konnert

Credits: Aviva Lessard (Senior Producer), Sam Konnert (Host/Producer), Noor Azrieh (Host/Producer), Mia Johnson (Producer), Caleb Thompson (Audio Editor and Technical Producer), Max Collins (Director of Audio) Jesse Brown (Editor), Tony Wang (Artwork)

Guests: Shirley Tagalik, Christine Bishop 

Background reading:

• 25,000 public servants warned their jobs could be at risk. Here is the latest on federal job cuts – CTV News
• Five charts to help visualize public service job cuts – Ottawa Citizen
• Feds target hundreds of Environment and Climate Change Canada workers putting ‘public safety and the environment at risk’ – Canada’s National Observer
• Carney’s government is cutting hundreds of environment and science jobs. Here’s what that means for Canadians – CBC News

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