The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Video)

From a modern life at odds with our wellbeing, to a retelling of Canadian history, The Agenda's Week in Review.

Celebrating the War of 1812, re-branding the Canadian Museum of Civilization and examining the history taught in our schools. The Harper government has long taken an interest in Canadian history. But is this a good thing for Canadian history?

Why do we commemorate the anniversaries of certain historical events, but not others? The Treaty of Paris and the Royal Proclamation of 1763 ended the Seven Years' War, recognized British dominance of North America and put the continent's course on a different direction. Northeastern University history professor William Fowler Jr. tells Steve Paikin why the 250th anniversary of these documents is something that should be remembered.

As the fallout from the gas plant cancellations continues, Steve Paikin and two guests answer viewer questions about Ontario politics.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear sits down with Steve Paikin for a feature interview on what Ontario can learn from the Bluegrass state, and to get his perspective on US politics.

Is modern life doing as much harm as good to humans? Invention and innovation have radically improved our lives even as unintended consequences may be putting our biological, physical and cultural life under enormous stress. Past eras of immense change for humans just happened to us. With all of our technology and expertise, can we do better than that today and adapt to our own ingenuity in order to mitigate some of the illness and dysfunction that goes along with progress?

Much gets made of how modern life can make us miserable - too stressful, too sedentary, too many people packed into an urban jungle yet all too often people feeling socially isolated even in a crowd. As unpleasant as that all can be, science has recently determined that these complaints aren't just social or cultural problems. They're biological problems too.

The promise of new digital technology was more time. Author Douglas Rushkoff argues that instead of gaining time, we've gained a digital affliction, "Present Shock." Are the real-time technologies that drive our always-on world a blessing or a curse? Do we need to tune out and turn off more often for the sake of our sanity?

The time is now. We exist in the immediate present, anchored in our real-time lives. But author Douglas Rushkoff warns that because we are so focused on the now, we cannot learn from our past, or plan for our future. He calls it "present shock." Author Douglas Rushkoff joins Steve Paikin for more.

Turkey and Syria, two countries with a long history, both harmonious and hostile. In The Agenda's Story of the Week, TVO foreign affairs analyst Janice Stein sits down with Steve Paikin to discuss the recent events unfolding in Turkey and Syria, and how the unrest in Turkey will affect its standing in the region.

Toronto City Hall is in the middle of what some are calling a civic psychodrama. But what is at the root of that drama? Is it crime? Political dysfunction? Or are we actually in the middle of a class war between the downtown elite and the suburbanites?

Toronto is making international headlines, but maybe not the type the city would like. Author and Chapman University fellow Joel Kotkin joins The Agenda to discuss Toronto's global reputation and if it will recover from any damage that may have been caused.

3D printing is a technological and business innovation that's transforming a raft of industries including the medical field where bio-printers are starting to be used to "print" both hard and soft tissues including skin for burn victims. Is Canada's approach to funding for innovation on the right track to take help bolster our position as a leader in the 3D realm?

Can gun control and other prohibitions against certain objects even exist in a world in which every home is a micro-factory? Cody Wilson, the man behind the Liberator, a gun that can be printed using 3D printing technology, and Matt Ratto of the University of Toronto's Critical Making Lab, discuss the impact that 3D printing is having on civil liberties.

He was the third Papandreou to become prime minister of Greece in his family's very storied history. But his two year tenure at the top was perhaps the most tumultuous in Greece's history. Former Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou visits The Agenda to talk about Greece, Greeks and the crippling sovereign debt which led to the most painful and perhaps counter-productive austerity measures, ever seen in a Western economy.