About Cost of Living
Air Times
CBC Radio One
Sundays at 12:05 p.m. (12:35 p.m. NT)
Rebroadcast Tuesdays at 11:31 a.m.
Sirius XM
Sundays at 12:05 p.m. ET and 11:05 p.m. ET
Mondays at 4:07 p.m. ET
Tuesdays at 11:31 a.m. ET
About the show
Money talks. We translate. Every Friday, Paul Haavardsrud looks at the way money shapes our lives in ways big, small, obvious, and unseen. From the price of a Big Mac to the dream of micro-retirement, Cost of Living connects the dots between the economy and everyday life.
About the team
Paul Haavardsrud, Host
Paul Haavardsrud has been a business reporter for most of his career, starting in print with Dow Jones, the Financial Post, and the Calgary Herald before taking to the airwaves with CBC Radio in 2010. Paul grew up in the windiest part of southern Alberta and in Grade 11 hit the game-winning 3 in the Crescent Heights Cowboys Invitational basketball tournament. No big deal. He doesn't really bring it up that much unless it comes up organically in conversation.
Paul has a wide variety of interests as illustrated by his four (?!) university degrees, ranging from commerce to English lit to journalism. He's ghost written two Canadian non-fiction best sellers covering two of his favourite topics, economics and sports.
He loves basketball and Joan Didion. Roughly 11 per cent of the things he says are also quotes from The Big Lebowski. More than anything, he loves his twin daughters, who are, empirically, the cutest children in the world.
Jennifer Keene, Senior Producer
Jennifer started her career with CBC Edmonton, after being asked to write an opinion piece arguing that Fringe Theatre Festivals are a bad idea. She did — although she didn't believe a word of it. Since then, she's worked as an arts reporter, writer-broadcaster, and senior producer. She has written and produced documentaries about everything from the Keystone XL pipeline to Fraggle Rock. She also wrote and produced the true crime podcast, "Ambushed".
Jen has never written another opinion piece, although she is always happy to argue either side of any issue, which is, she is sure, delightful for her colleagues. She has two daughters who are the best thing in her world, and a small dog who reminds her constantly that she is a cat person at heart.
Danielle Nerman, Producer
Danielle grew up in Vancouver, but left at the ripe age of 18 to swim with sharks in Australia. After being stung several times by jellyfish, she abandoned the idea of becoming a career scuba diving instructor and moved back to Canada to attend the journalism program at Carleton University.
After graduation, Danielle loaded her belongings in the trunk of her hatchback and drove from Ottawa to Fredericton for a summer gig as a reporter at CBC Radio. She was eventually lured west and has been firmly planted in Calgary since 2004. Over the years, she's won awards for her radio documentaries and worked as a journalist in China, Japan and Mongolia.
When Danielle isn't tootling around in her garden, she's burning turns on ski hills with her husband and daughter — who is a more annoying (and cuter) version of herself.
Ellis Choe, Producer
Ellis Choe has zigged and zagged her way to and from CBC Radio.
She started to zig at CBC Calgary morning and afternoon shows. Then she zagged to raise a few kids -- and design and build a few homes. Now she's back at CBC zigzagging the costs of living with a crew of master storytellers and landing some fresh garlic along the way.