Americans are celebrating their Independence Day today with 4th of July festivities amid growing political unrest, trade wars and escalating tensions with the international community, including Canada. Don Enos, vice-president of the Blaine Chamber of Commerce in Washington state, gives insight on how businesses are reacting. And we ask viewers where their relationship with the U.S. stands as UBC political scientist Terri Givens joins the show.

BC Today gardening columnist Brian Minter joins us to answer your gardening questions.

The City of Victoria is fast-tracking parts of its community safety plan to address "public disorder" in its downtown core, and putting $10.35 million behind it. Meanwhile. Vancouver is investing $5 million in its own public safety plan to address organized crime networks. Gurpreet Singh Johal, a criminologist at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and Eli Sopow, a retired RCMP civilian analyst and University Canada West associate professor, join the show as we ask viewers how safe they feel in their communities.

In 2018, B.C. families were promised a universal $10-a-day child care program by 2028. But B.C. is falling short of that commitment, as waitlists continue to build and less than three per cent of B.C. children have access to the system, according to the Coalition of Child Care Advocates of B.C. The coalition's spokesperson, Sharon Gregson, joins the show.

The Movember Institute of Men's Health has released a national report on the state of men's health in Canada, in it finding that more than 44 per cent of men living in the country will die prematurely from largely preventable causes. Niigaan Sinclair, an Anishinaabe writer, editor, professor and activist and the co-author of the Real Face of Men’s Health report, joins the show.

Applications are now open for B.C.'s publicly-funded in-vitro fertilization program, which will provide up to $19,000 per patient. We take you live as B.C. Health Minister Josie Osborne provides updates and details on the program. Penny Blesch, founder of the Fertility Coalition of British Columbia, joins the show to answer questions from viewers as we ask what more can be done for the program.

This Canada Day, we celebrate the diverse cuisines we have in our own backyard. Chef TJ Conwi, owner of Ono Vancouver, and Chef Rocio Valeras, owner of Ruka Cocina, join the show to discuss lesser-known cuisines in Canada.