As it Happens

Pulling up a plant by the roots. Yet another manufacturer yanks its operations from the Ontario city of St. Thomas. Scot-free. The referendum is two years away -- but campaigners for Scottish independence are already driving their message home. EI, EI, oh. Last night's interviews on the effects of Employment Insurance reform had Talkback working overtime.

Take this job and drive to it. Human Resources Minister Diane Finley talks about Ottawa's new EI rules -- including one that requires people to take jobs within a commute, or more. Labour pains. The new regulations target seasonal workers in particular -- which, our guest tells us, will wreak havoc on the lives of fishermen. Shrinking inside the box. More than five hundred protesters are arrested in Montreal, after police use the widely-discredited containment method called "kettling".

Detraining day. Nearly five thousand CP Rail workers go on strike -- raising questions about how both management and government will respond. The fruits of the Arab Spring. Fifteen months after the resignation of Hosni Mubarak, Egyptians vote in their first free presidential election. First they got IPO-ed -- now they're just PO-ed. Facebook's much-heralded stock offering proves over-heralded -- and now, angry investors, and the S.E.C., want answers.

They doth protest too much. The Montreal streets are once again jammed with demonstrators -- but a Quebec MNA explains why he still supports Bill 78. The tension is building. Quebec gets set to launch the Charbonneau Commission -- which will look at charges of corruption in the province's construction industry. Striking a dissident note. Six exiled Tiananmen Square protesters publish an open letter asking to be allowed to return to China.

Brought together, torn apart. A rehearsal for a military parade to celebrate Yemen's National Unity Day is brutally ended by a suicide bomber. Surprise: anti-protest bill sparks protest. Quebec's Bill 78 backfires colossally -- and now, student and legal groups line up to challenge it in court. When pitchfork-wielding strangers approach her home, Beth Howard doesn't panic. That's because she lives in the house that stands in the background of the classic painting "American Gothic".