Since the murder of a Muslim family by a self-described white nationalist in London, Ont. in 2021, debate has raged over whether this crime was an act of terrorism under Canadian law. Last week’s Ontario Superior Court ruling has settled the matter: Nathaniel Veltman’s targeted attacks on the Afzaal family is a ‘textbook’ example of terrorism.Globe reporter Colin Freeze has been covering the case and joins The Decibel to explain the precedent-setting decision, why defining terrorism matters in Canada, and what this means in protecting the victims of terrorist crimes.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Two years ago, Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Now, with Russia on the front foot, many towns that have been safe for months are being thrust back onto the frontlines, like Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.Today, The Globe’s senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon, who’s in Kharkiv, tells us about the frontlines of the war two years on, how the soldiers are doing, and what it means for Ukraine’s army that Western support is slowing down.If you’d like to learn more, The Globe is doing a live Q&A with Mark on Saturday, February 24 at 10 a.m. ET, here.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The latest poll numbers are looking grim for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. According to an Abacus poll in February, the Trudeau-led Liberals are polling at 24 per cent and the PM himself is deeply unpopular among voters of all ages. More than a year out from the next election, is the incumbent government already doomed?John Ibbitson, The Globe’s Writer-At-Large, explains the factors that have led to the Liberals’ steep decline and whether this is simply the end of a political cycle – as a new one could soon begin.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As health care across Canada struggles with staffing shortages, a Globe investigation has found that provincial use of private nursing agencies has recently skyrocketed – in some cases costing hundreds of millions of dollars.The Globe’s Kelly Grant and Tu Thanh Ha have been investigating these private agencies – and one agency in particular – for months. Today, they tell us how these agencies work, why it’s costing so much, and the concerns with how some of these companies are operating – including some questionable expenses that are being passed onto taxpayers.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada’s first federal housing advocate released her first-ever formal review last week: Housing is a human right and that the federal government is failing people who are unhoused and violating a 2019 law by not providing adequate housing. That has led directly to a poverty and encampment crisis affecting cities and towns across Canada, leaving thousands of people struggling to survive.Marie-Josée Houle, Canada’s Federal Housing Advocate, joins the show to explain the full findings of her report and the pressure on governments to act now.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Worried about total economic collapse because of government mismanagement? Bow Valley Credit Union might be for you. The Alberta credit union is leaning hard into anti-government, anti-regulation rhetoric. And it’s buying up precious metals like gold in a bid to shore up its depositors’ investments.They’re proud of the fact that they’ve run afoul of regulators, using their distrust of authority as a selling point, and recently sponsored Tucker Carlson’s interview with Alberta premier Danielle Smith.The Globe’s Carrie Tait explains how Bow Valley’s CEO has built up the credit union and why they appeal to thousands who’ve invested with them.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Back in the fall of 2021, Canadian news headlines were dominated by the story of the Rogers family battling for control of Rogers Communications Inc. It was a very dramatic, and very public, power struggle that was frequently compared to the TV show Succession.The fallout from that saga is still playing out today. Alexandra Posadzki has been breaking news on this story since it started. She recently published a book, Rogers v. Rogers: The Battle for Control over Canada’s Telecom Empire. Today, she explains the saga that pulled the Rogers family apart, risked a $20-billion deal, and what it all means for Canada’s telecom industry now.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Israel-Hamas war has led to a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In January, Canada launched a temporary program for Canadians to bring their family members here from Gaza.Janice Dickson is the Globe’s international affairs reporter. She’s here to talk about what makes bringing people out of Gaza so challenging, and the frustration Canadians are feeling in trying to bring their loved ones here.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Life has gotten expensive in a number of ways – from groceries to housing. And so too, have the costs of taking care of furry family members. More than half of Canadian households have a cat or dog and skyrocketing costs have meant some people are finding it hard to keep up with the bills.The Globe’s personal finance reporter, Erica Alini, and independent business reporter, Chris Hannay, looked into the complex web of factors that have caused rising prices. They’re on the show to explain what they learned and what pet owners can do to try and keep costs down.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A new report about Chinese companies registering in Russia’s Arctic highlights China’s “no limits partnership” with Russia, and its interest in developing mining and shipping in the Arctic that is melting due to climate change.Senior parliamentary reporter Steven Chase explores the implications for Canada, which has its own claims to sovereignty over the North Pole, the Northwest Passage, and the large swaths of the Arctic seabeds that could be mined.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The most recent numbers show that inflation in Canada is at 3.4 per cent. Still above the 2-per-cent target, which is where the Bank of Canada would like it to be. And this last little bit of inflation is a critical period for the Bank in terms of adjusting interest rates.Mark Rendell covers the Bank of Canada for The Globe’s Report on Business and he explains what challenges remain to squeeze that last little bit of inflation out of the economy.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

It’s been a year since B.C. got permission to decriminalize possessing small amounts of some street drugs. At the time, B.C.’s Minister of Mental Health and Addictions said this would “break down the stigma that stops people from accessing life-saving support and services.”But since then, B.C. recorded its highest-ever number of deaths from illicit drugs in 2023. And in response to public outcry, the provincial government has sought to limit drug use in more public areas like beaches and playgrounds.Andrea Woo is a staff reporter at The Globe’s Vancouver bureau, and she’s won a National Newspaper Award for her coverage of the toxic drug crisis. She’ll tell us what we know about how decriminalization works in B.C., and if anyone thinks it’s working out.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith unveiled a raft of new policies last week that have healthcare professionals warning of dire consequences for young transgender and non-binary people. The proposals will severely restrict when and what kind of gender-affirming care – ranging from medication to surgery – that young people and their families will have access to.Zosia Bielski, national news reporter specializing in gender, sexuality and sexual health for The Globe, explains what these policies are aiming to achieve and why experts are calling these rules the most restrictive in Canada on issues of gender and identity.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In early January, Florida became the first U.S. state to get approval to import wholesale drugs from Canada. The FDA’s decision overrides decades-long objections from drug companies and could save the state millions of dollars. Now, Colorado is looking to do the same.The Globe’s international correspondent, Nathan VanderKlippe went to Colorado to learn about their plan to bring in cheap drugs from Canada, why drugs are so much more expensive in the U.S., and whether Canadians could be facing a shortage in their medications.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

For months now, TD Bank has been making headlines. First there was the news they were acquiring U.S.-based First Horizon Bank. Then the news that that acquisition wasn’t going through. Then the bank announced it was under investigation.And now, thanks to the reporting of Rita Trichur and Stefanie Marotta, we know that a Canadian regulator is also set to levy a penalty against them. Stefanie, The Globe’s banking reporter, is on the show to explain what is going on inside Canada’s second-largest bank.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A U.S. federal indictment is unsealed and within it are explosive allegations. According to court documents released this week, an assassination plot was constructed between a drug lord, two Canadian Hells Angels members and Iran’s armed forces – aimed at silencing Iranian dissidents living in the U.S.The Globe’s U.S. correspondent Adrian Morrow explains what is known about the case, the people allegedly involved and how it all fits into foreign interference and extraterritorial killings.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Five hockey players from Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team have been charged with sexual assault in connection to an event alleged to have taken place in London, Ont., in 2018. Four of them are current NHL players.A woman identified as E.M. sued Hockey Canada in 2022 in relation to the incident, which was settled for $3.55-million. The Globe then reported that Hockey Canada had maintained a reserve, called the National Equity Fund, to pay out sexual assault claims. It was made up, in part, by players’ registration fees.The Globe’s Robyn Doolittle led the reporting on Unfounded, a series examining how police departments across Canada treat sexual assault claims, and she’s been reporting on the alleged incident as details become public. She explains what happened in 2018 and how it led to this week’s charges.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Online petitions. Angry in-person meetings. An ultimatum. These are just a few of the events that lead to a Canadian play being pulled from Victoria’s Belfry Theatre and Vancouver’s PuSh Festival.The Globe’s theatre critic, J. Kelly Nestruck, explains how this play – The Runner – wound up at the centre of a controversy about a war half a world away.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Myanmar has been embroiled in a bloody civil war for nearly three years, after the military staged a coup in 2021. The war was stuck in a stalemate but that is changing – the resistance forces have been gaining ground, and Siegfried Modola has been there documenting some of the battles.Modola is a photojournalist and documentary photographer who has been reported on the conflict during several trips into Myanmar for The Globe and Mail. Today, he takes us to the new frontlines of the country’s civil war, and explains the toll this conflict is having on the people of Myanmar.You can see Modola’s reporting and photography here: https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-myanmar-civil-war-opposition-photos/Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The long-awaited inquiry into foreign interference begins today. The Globe and Mail’s reporting, based on top-secret CSIS documents, of sophisticated strategies by China to disrupt Canada’s democracy and federal elections set off a firestorm. Now, the public is about to learn how the federal government handled this information and what lessons can be learned to fend off actions by foreign states in the future.The Globe’s senior parliamentary reporter, Steven Chase, joins the podcast to explain the stakes of the inquiry, what is being examined and the main players who will dominate the headlines in the months to come.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Nearly two years on, the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act against the 2022 convoy protests is still being debated – politically and legally. This week, a Federal Court judge ruled that the Trudeau government’s invocation of the act was unjustified and violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.The Globe’s senior political reporter Marieke Walsh explains this latest ruling, how this finding is different from last year’s inquiry findings and what this all means for the Trudeau government.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Cities in Canada pay for most of the services they provide with property taxes. What homeowners are charged in property taxes – and how much that goes up or down with each budget – has become a political statement, as well as a rallying cry for affordability.Urban affairs reporter Oliver Moore gets at the numbers behind the latest property tax hikes across the country, telling us what they’re paying for, why they are mostly going up – some, like Toronto’s, way up – and what other tools cities have to raise the money they need for services like garbage pickup and park maintenance.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Companies around the world are trying to harness the power of the tides to create a renewable energy source. Canada’s Bay of Fundy is a promising place to do it because it has the highest tides in the world. But turning the tides into energy has proven to be challenging and costly.Matthew MClearn is an investigative reporter and data journalist with The Globe and Mail’s Energy, Natural Resources and Environment Team. He’s on the show to explain how tidal power works and where we’re at in its development.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Cases of Invasive Group A Strep infections are on the rise in Canada. It’s an illness with potentially fatal outcomes – four children under 10 have died in British Columbia since mid-December, and six people under the age of 18 died in Ontario in the last three months of 2023.Carly Weeks is a health reporter for the Globe. She’s on the show to talk about how to recognize Invasive Group A Strep infections and why experts believe they’re on the rise.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Oct. 23, 2023, five hospitals in southwestern Ontario realized they were under attack. A cybercrime group was hacking them in order to hold patient and employee information hostage. The hack resulted in all of the hospitals shutting down their systems, causing massive delays in care, backlogging tests and requiring some patients to travel for care.Karen Howlett, an investigative reporter at The Globe, has been looking into how hackers were able to get into the hospitals’ shared IT system and steal over 250,000 patient records.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada’s birth rate is at an almost 20-year low. People are deciding not to have kids for a variety of reasons and the pandemic has only intensified this drop. While Millennials and GenZ’s are saying no to kids, the declining birth rate is leaving their parents with an identity crisis: Baby boomers coming to terms with a future without grandkids.The Globe’s Zosia Bielski recently looked into the rising trend of grandchildless boomers. She explains what this new normal means for family dynamics and the pressures that come along with it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada is one of the fastest growing countries in the world and in 2023, the population officially reached 40 million people. But economists are warning that there’s a price to pay for that growth – that Canada’s living standards and investments in infrastructure aren’t keeping up.Matt Lundy is an economics reporter for the Globe, and he joins the podcast to explain why Canada’s policies have led to a ‘population trap’ and why Canada’s immigration rates have soared.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The case of Steven Galloway caused a firestorm when it was first made public, and it continues to this day. Galloway was fired from the University of British Columbia after allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies. The situation divided Canadian authors, and the public more broadly. Now, there’s been a development.The Globe’s Marsha Lederman has reported on this extensively. Today, she tells the story of how we got to this moment, the implications of this case, and the effect it’s had on the people involved.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ontario’s Ring of Fire has long been believed to contain critical minerals like nickel, copper and chromite, purportedly worth tens of billions of dollars. But for more than a decade, there has been no development. This is in part because of a long process of assessments and consultations happening, much of which involve First Nations communities who live on the Ring of Fire land.Niall McGee is the Globe’s mining reporter and he explains how the leader of one First Nation in the area is pushing to allow for the mining of the Ring of Fire and why he sees it as important for reconciliation.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Snowy season in many parts of Canada is off to a slow start. At the end of December, fewer than half of Whistler Blackcomb’s trails in British Columbia were open due to the lack of snow. And the Prairie provinces are expected to have a milder winter, with below-normal snowfall. While the amount of snow varies from year to year, a new study says snowpack – the volume of snow that is present on the landscape – in the Northern Hemisphere is on the decline because of climate change.Ivan Semeniuk is The Globe’s science reporter. He’s on the show to explain how this loss will impact not only ski season but also water supplies and agriculture.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There seems to be a lot of illness going around right now. Hospitals are struggling with what the Canadian Medical Association called an “avalanche of patients,” and many of you have questions.Today, The Globe’s health reporter Carly Weeks joins us to explain how this year’s respiratory virus season is shaping up, and she answers your questions about COVID, RSV, the flu, and more.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On December 29, South Africa submitted an application with the International Court of Justice claiming that Israel’s offensive in Gaza is “genocidal in character.” The UN’s judicial court is hearing South Africa’s request for provisional measures on Thursday and will hear Israel’s response the next day.Geoffrey York is the Globe’s Africa bureau chief, based in Johannesburg. He explains what was in South Africa’s application and what it means for the war in Gaza.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Taiwan, the east Asian country of 24 million people, is ramping up to a pivotal presidential election on January 13. Amidst rising tensions with China, voters are being asked whether their country should have a warmer relationship with Beijing or continue a hardline stance for Taiwanese independence.James Griffiths, The Globe’s Asia correspondent, explains why the answer to that question will test China’s strength and why another superpower is watching closely.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There’s a conversation happening amongst parents that is drumming up a lot of controversy. It’s around the idea of gentle parenting, which is a catch-all term that generally refers to parents who try to stay calm, place a lot of importance on their child’s emotions and show a lot of physical affection.Dr. Alice Davidson is a professor of developmental psychology at Rollins College, and is one of the few academics to have actually studied gentle parenting. She shares what she has found out.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Inflation has been rising, interest rates have accelerated at record pace, and the cost of living has been weighing on us all. Canada’s economy has been flirting with a recession since the start of the pandemic, but we may have avoided the worst of it.So what’s in store for 2024? Will there be any reprieve? The Globe’s economics columnist and reporter David Parkinson is on the show today to tell us what this year’s financial forecast looks like.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Tensions in the Middle East have heightened in the last week, not just because the war in Gaza continues, but because of four events that have happened in the last week in the region.The Globe’s Senior International Correspondent, Mark MacKinnon, explains what has happened and how it’s ratcheting up geopolitical pressures.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Plant-based meat has been touted as a way of having our steak and eating it too. The industry had grand plans to remake the way we eat, cut down greenhouse gas emissions in meat and dairy production and address animal welfare concerns. Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible had a meteoric rise in the late 2010s, with influencers, celebrities and investors backing the companies.But now, it appears the hype over plant-based meat is over. Sales have dropped off and stock prices are worth less than a tenth of its peak.Vox staff writer and journalist Kenny Torrella tells us why the noise around plant-based meat’s potential – and its flop – doesn’t tell the whole story.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There is a universal – but uncomfortable – truth about grief: We will all experience it at some point in our lives. And with the scale of death we witnessed during the pandemic, grief is a lot more present in our lives.And yet, Canada doesn’t have a cohesive network of support for grief. The Canadian Grief Alliance recently received federal funding to look into this. Paul Adams is one of the co-chairs and is on the show to explain what a better system could look like.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

2023 was a rocky year for Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government. The country was grappling with unaffordable housing and grocery prices, high interest rates, accusations of foreign interference. Trudeau and his government have been sliding in the polls, losing significant ground to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre.Today, in our first episode of 2024, The Globe’s political columnist and writer-at-large John Ibbitson explains how the events of 2023 impacted Trudeau and his government, and Pierre Poilievre, and what might be in store for 2024.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

For the holidays, The Decibel is sharing their favourite stories of the year, with the producers taking you behind-the-scenes on how the episodes were made, what inspired them and all the tidbits that never made it into the original airing.***Adrial and Adiah Nadarajah are the most premature twins ever born to survive to their first birthday – they were born at just 22 weeks, about half of a full term pregnancy. If they had been born just two hours earlier, medical staff would not have tried to resuscitate them. They would have been considered too young to live.Their story is part of the medical and moral challenges that arise when babies are born dangerously early. Kelly Grant spoke with the parents and doctors of the babies – and attended the twins’ first birthday party.This episode originally aired on April 10, 2023Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

For the holidays, The Decibel is sharing their favourite stories of the year, with the producers taking you behind-the-scenes on how the episodes were made, what inspired them and all the tidbits that never made it into the original airing.***When Ontario Place first opened in 1971, it was a jewel on Toronto’s waterfront showcasing modern architecture and Ontario culture. But in the 50 years that followed, Ontario Place faced an identity crisis. The space hosted a water park and a night club to name a few. And while a few venues have stayed open much of the park closed in 2012. The Provincial government cited dwindling attendance and soaring costs.Ontario Premier Doug Ford has a new plan that he says will turn the 155-acres of land into a ‘world class’ destination. But the project is already mired in controversy, with critics saying the Premier’s plan is shrouded in secrecy and favouritism.Decibel producer Sherrill Sutherland toured Ontario place with The Globe’s architecture critic, Alex Bozikovic to learn about why so many people are fighting to keep it a public space. Plus, the Globe’s Queen’s Park reporter Jeff Gray explains the politics behind this lucrative piece of land.This episode originally aired on May 4, 2023Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

For the holidays, The Decibel is sharing their favourite stories of the year, with the producers taking you behind-the-scenes on how the episodes were made, what inspired them and all the tidbits that never made it into the original airing.***No one really knows what dark matter is. We just think it exists. And we believe it makes up 85 per cent of all mass in the universe. So how do you solve the mystery of something that is currently unknowable?Enter SNOLAB. This underground, clean lab is located in Sudbury, Ontario, and researchers there are running experiments to try to solve this cosmic query. Decibel producer Madeleine White, along with Globe science reporter Ivan Semeniuk, go two kilometres underground to visit SNOLAB and bring you up to date on the lab’s quest to discover dark matter.This episode originally aired on August 10, 2023Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Food and family are often front and centre during the holidays. These two ingredients also help make up our identities and cultures.So today, The Decibel is sharing stories of finding family through the act of baking.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Earlier this year, The Globe’s sports editor Jamie Ross got a peculiar package in the mail – a wallet, with a request from a man nearing the end of his life, to help return it to its rightful owner. That piqued the interest of investigative reporter Grant Robertson. And that began the saga of trying to track these people down.Today, Grant Robertson tells us the story of a hockey player, his wallet, and the mystery Grant is trying to solve around it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Globe’s Carrie Tait recently went to visit a bowling alley in the small town of Kimberley, British Columbia. It’s tucked in the basement of the town’s Elk’s Lodge and has a feature that exists in just a few other locations in North America: the pins are set by humans, not machines. It’s a profession from a bygone era but in Kimberley, this bowling alley from the past, is making a comeback.Carrie is on the show to tell us about this unique space, the people who put it together and how the bowling alley is helping to revive a small town looking toward its future.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A giant squid discovered in Newfoundland in 1873 turned what until then was a mythological creature into the scientifically named Architeuthis dux, or giant squid. In the generations since, more sightings and myth-making have become the stuff of local legend on “The Rock”.Atlantic reporter Lindsay Jones explores how the giant squid has since entwined itself in the history and culture of Newfoundland, even as sightings have dwindled in the 21st century.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Nearly every day, The Globe published an editorial cartoon. Around 8,000 of those cartoons were drawn by Brian Gable. After 35 years of drawing cartoons for The Globe, Brian Gable has retired.Today, we talk to Brian about the complicated art of political cartoons, how he does it, who his favourite people have been to draw, and why he thinks we need editorial cartoons in today’s world.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Nearly every day, The Globe published an editorial cartoon. Around 8,000 of those cartoons were drawn by Brian Gable. After 35 years of drawing cartoons for The Globe, Brian Gable has retired.Today, we talk to Brian about the complicated art of political cartoons, how he does it, who his favourite people have been to draw, and why he thinks we need editorial cartoons in today’s world.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Earlier this week, a man from Mississauga, Kenneth Law, was charged with 14 counts of second-degree murder. Police allege he helped people end their lives by selling them sodium nitrite online.Today, Globe reporters Mike Hager and Colin Freeze explain what we know about Kenneth Law, the charges against him, and how he defended himself in an interview earlier this year.If you are having thoughts of suicide, call Crisis Service Canada at 1-833-456-4566 or visit crisisservicescanada.ca. Young people can also call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868, text 686868, or visit kidshelpphone.ca. If it is an emergency, call 911.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

One in five Canadians suffer from chronic pain. According to one estimate, in 2019 the direct and indirect costs of chronic pain totalled $40-billion. And yet, the affliction is poorly understood and accessing treatment through the health care system can be tedious and frustrating.Lara Pingue is an editor at The Globe. In 2018 her life changed when a sneeze sent her spiralling into the world of chronic pain. On her years-long journey, she’s dealt first-hand with the health care system, she’s tried multitudes of treatments to help alleviate her pain and she’s learned about the research currently being done to figure out this mysterious affliction. She’s on the show to explain her experience and what her bad back taught her about the world of chronic pain.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There are over a half million public-sector workers on strike in Quebec this week. This comes after an offer from François Legault’s government, which the multiple unions involved in negotiations rejected.The strikes – some of which started weeks ago – seem to have strong public support despite schools being shut down and delays piling up at hospitals. Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel, a staff reporter based in Montreal, discusses whether there’s an end in sight.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada’s oil and gas industry has been facing immense pressure to reduce emissions. Last week, the federal government announced a cap and trade system to help do that, and one of the main ways the industry is planning to cut back on emissions is through carbon capture.Today, The Globe’s energy reporter Emma Graney explains the new cap and trade system, the science behind carbon capture, and the concerns around whether it is a viable option for Canada’s oil and gas sector.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A recent report from the Canadian Cancer Society underlines a troubling trend: cervical cancer is on the rise and seeing its most significant increase in nearly 40 years. Despite having a vaccine against HPV – the predominant cause of the cancer – hundreds of Canadian women are dying every year.The Globe’s national health reporter Carly Weeks joins the podcast to explain what experts think should do to help prevent the rise of cervical cancer cases in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As storms become more frequent and more severe, insurance claims for damage to homes are piling up. Disaster claims in Canada have more than quadrupled over the past 15 years, accounting for more than $3-billion of insured losses in 2022 – up from just $400-million in 2008, according to the Insurance Bureau of Canada.Clare O’Hara is a journalist with The Globe’s Report on Business and she covers the insurance industry. She explains the relationship between climate change, insurance companies and your growing home insurance bill.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year, there have been concerns about Ukrainian children, and the efforts by Russia to send them to summer camps or to foster homes within Russia.The Globe’s senior international correspondent, Mark MacKinnon, brings us the story of two siblings separated by this practice and how a sister travelled more than 1,000 km, crossing borders, to try to bring her brother back home.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Managing personal finances while navigating 2023′s economic landscape is stressful, especially for young people. Is now the time for a down payment for a home? How do you even begin saving with sky-high rents? Where is the safest place to begin investing?Listeners asked these questions (and more) to The Globe’s personal finance columnist Rob Carrick, who spoke to Decibel host Menaka Raman-Wilms in a Globe Campus virtual event. We answer the most pressing queries to help you get a better handle on your money.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

After a very public and heated battle with the federal government, Google has come to an agreement to support Canadian news to the tune of $100 million a year. Countries around the world have been watching this play out in Canada, as they try to tackle the imbalance between tech giants and media outlets.Taylor Owen, founding director of The Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy and an associate professor at McGill University, joins us today. He explains the details of the deal, and what precedent it sets for other places looking to bring in similar legislation.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Where is the most livable city in Canada? The Globe and Mail ranked more than 400 cities across the country to find out. Using data to capture qualities that matter most – affordability, safety, education and access to amenities and health care – these rankings will help Canadians find the cities that are best for them, based on their own circumstances.The Globe’s data editor Mahima Singh and personal finance reporter Salmaan Farooqui join the show to explain the methodology behind the project and why a certain city on the west coast takes the top spot.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Tuesday, a walkout and rally at York University’s campus in Toronto saw 200 faculty and staff protesting the administration’s decision to suspend three employees, including one professor. The employees were charged for their alleged involvement in defacing an Indigo bookstore. It’s the latest incident involving a Canadian university where the Israel-Hamas war has created conflict on campus.The Globe’s post-secondary education reporter Joe Friesen is on the show to explain why university campuses are a flashpoint of spillover tensions from the Israel-Hamas war and why it’s testing how free speech is handled at universities.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Binance is the world’s largest crypto trading platform and its founder is the most recent crypto leader to be charged criminally in the U.S. That man – Changpeng Zhao – also happens to be Canada’s richest person.But despite his guilty plea to money-laundering charges, the reaction from the crypto industry has been much more muted than when FTX collapsed and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, was charged. Ethan Lou is an editor in The Globe’s Report on Business and explains what’s going on and why multiple crypto bosses have been charged recently.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Last week, a far-right party and its controversial leader in the Netherlands won a surprising election victory. This comes on the heels of several other European countries that are seeing far-right parties become more popular.Today, The Globe’s international affairs columnist Doug Saunders explains why we’re seeing this shift to the far-right and what it will mean for European politics.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) numbers revealed what BMO’s chief economist calls the “new villain” of inflation: rent. While inflation is finally cooling for items such as groceries, the price for renting a place to live has increased 8.2 per cent – the largest increase in more than 40 years.Matt Lundy is an economics reporter with The Globe’s Report on Business. He’s on the show to explain why rents keep climbing and whether there’s any relief in sight.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As the number of people experiencing homelessness grows in cities across Canada, so too have encampments – groups of people living in tents in parks, under overpasses, wherever they can find space. Some cities have taken aggressive actions to clear out people dwelling in tents – but London, Ont., is taking a different approach.Marcus Gee is a columnist for the Globe, specializing in reporting on cities and the opioid crisis. Today, he explains why London is bringing city services to encampments, and how a compassionate approach is both a test – and potentially a new model – for other municipalities.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In the span of a week, OpenAI went from being Silicon Valley’s dominant artificial intelligence company, to teetering on the brink of collapse, to a total board overhaul. And at the centre of the drama were two men: Sam Altman, its CEO, and Ilya Sutskever, its Chief Scientist.Report on Business journalist Joe Castaldo explains who Ilya Sutskever is, what his role was in the past week’s chaotic chain of events, and why he is driving to build even smarter AI, despite the risks.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Israel and Hamas are negotiating a four-day ceasefire which could see the release of up to 50 prisoners being held in Gaza as well as Palestinians currently imprisoned in Israel. Israel said that for every additional 10 hostages freed by Hamas, the truce would be extended by a day.It is widely believed that hostages in Gaza are being held in a system of tunnels underneath the territory. This subterranean network is believed to have existed under Gaza. But how big and connected the tunnels are remains still unclear.Drew Craig is a consultant geologist and a member of the International Working Group on subterranean warfare, based in England. He’s on the show to tell us what we know about the tunnels and how it’s made the strategy of this war even more complicated.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Alberta government has been announcing several changes coming to the province’s health care – including dismantling the health authority, and putting more decision-making and responsibility into the hands of government.Today, The Globe’s health columnist Andre Picard explains what changes are being proposed, and why he thinks they might not fix the longstanding issues in Alberta’s health care – and could lead to other problems for the province.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig – known as the two Michaels – were both detained by Chinese authorities on December 10, 2018. That was the start of their 1,020-day imprisonment, in which Beijing accused the men of procuring and sharing Chinese state secrets.Now, two years after their release, one of the Michaels alleges that he was only detained because of information he provided to the other Michael, that was in turn passed onto the Canadian government.Globe and Mail Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife broke the story with colleague Steven Chase. Robert explains the allegations, what the Canadian government is saying now and what this means in the claims of hostage diplomacy between Canada and China.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Health Canada recently approved the sale of Zonnic, a nicotine pouch that you pop into your mouth. Even though its maker – Imperial Tobacco Canada – says it’s meant to help people quit smoking, anti-smoking advocates are worried that it will actually get young people addicted to nicotine. This is in part because of how Health Canada is regulating it.Carly Weeks is a health reporter with The Globe and Mail and she explains the details around the regulation of this product and why it’s not being treated like the last nicotine product that got teens hooked, vaping.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania was the first government-run residential school in North America. Earlier this fall, the remains of two boys, who died there more than a century ago, were returned to their tribes in South Dakota, over 2,000 kilometres away. It’s a process that took six years — and has only begun the healing and closure to the people who were part of it.Willow Fiddler, a national reporter for the Globe, visited those tribes to find out what it took to bring their boys home. She’s on The Decibel to talk about how the United States is reckoning with its history of boarding schools, and where Canada stands when it comes to repatriating the remains of Indigenous children who died at residential schools.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Many Afghans waiting to be resettled in Canada have taken refuge in Pakistan since fleeing their homes when the Taliban took control in 2021. That can be a dangerous and difficult situation for them – and now there’s an added concern. The government of Pakistan has begun deporting thousands of people back to Afghanistan.Today, The Globe’s Janice Dickson shares the stories of people she’s spoken with who are in hiding in Pakistan, or who have been deported already. She explains the dangerous limbo they’re in, and why it’s taking so long to get help from the Canadian government.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Israel-Hamas war is now in its sixth week and fighting is intensifying inside Gaza. On Tuesday, Palestinians trapped inside Gaza’s biggest hospital dug a mass grave to bury patients who died. Israel is encircling the hospital as they believe it sits atop an underground Hamas headquarters.On Monday Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netenyahu said he’s open to “tactical” fighting pauses but not to a ceasefire until the more than 200 Israeli hostages held by Hamas are released. Behind the scenes, intense negotiations are taking place to facilitate the release of these hostages as well as help civilians trapped inside Gaza and a central figure in these talks is Qatar.Kristian Coates Ulrichsen is the Fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy in Houston Texas. He’s on the show to explain why this tiny Gulf nation is acting as mediator in the Israel-Hamas war.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There is a glacier that sits a kilometer below the highest peak within B.C.’s border, called Combatant Col. Scientists have been working on its icy surface to pull out ice cores as quickly as they can. Locked within these smooth cylinders are clues about what the region’s climate was like years ago that could help us understand today’s climate challenges.Justine Hunter is a Globe reporter based in B.C. and she explains how researchers get these precious time capsules off the top of the mountain and what scientific secrets they are looking for once the cores are safely stored in a very cold lab in Edmonton, Alta..Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The reality of Quebec’s law to protect the French language is setting in, especially for the province’s three English language universities. Out-of-province students are facing a tuition hike that could see their fees go up from about $9,000 a year to $17,000… among the highest fees in the country.Joe Friesen, The Globe’s post-secondary education reporter, joins the podcast to explain what’s driving the province’s push and whether Anglophone schools students are headed for financial disaster.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

It can be incredibly frustrating trying to get access to historical records in Canada. There are often lengthy delays and confusing inconsistency. That’s in large part because Canada’s historical records are tied up in our access to information system, which has a lot of problems.The Globe’s investigative reporter Robyn Doolittle has been reporting on the country’s struggling access to information system through the Secret Canada project. Today, she explains why it’s so difficult to access records that are decades – even centuries – old, and why it’s so important that we can see what happened in the past.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A movement which first gained traction in Republican States in the U.S. is taking root in Canada. “Parents’ rights” is the idea that parents should have more control over what’s being taught and talked about in Canadian schools – particularly when it comes to gender identity and sexual education.Saskatchewan and New Brunswick have recently adopted policies in which students under 16 would need parental consent to change their pronouns at school. Alberta premier, Danielle Smith and Ontario premier, Doug Ford have also mused about the importance of parental rights inside classrooms. At the heart of this are the students, whose voices are often missed in all the noise of this heated debate.Education reporter, Caroline Alphonso and National news reporter, Zosia Bielski spoke to some students about the movement. We hear from some of them and learn about what’s behind this movement in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Weather in Canada is becoming more erratic thanks to climate change – we’re seeing cold snaps, severe thunder and hail storms, and wildfires. That’s having a big impact on Canada’s wine industry. Today, The Globe’s wine writer Christopher Waters joins us to explain what’s going on in the industry, how that’s impacting the wines themselves, and why it’s such an important industry to pay attention to – and we even try some wines, for research, of course.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canadian immigration minister Marc Miller announced the intentions of the government in its new set of targets: while the number of permanent residents being welcomed has grown annually, starting in 2026, there will be a freeze at 500,000. This update comes at same time as the latest polls indicate that Canadians are souring on immigration. But the change may not actually address the heart of the problem of why pressure is being exerted on the immigration system. Campbell Clark, The Globe’s chief political writer, joins the show to explain how the immigration system works – and why the federal government’s policies are failing current and hopeful Canadians.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There has been turmoil at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and it recently came to the public’s attention when the Alberta government dismissed the entire board in late October. The whirlwind drama started with the search for a new CEO, which led to arguments of conflict of interest and allegations of bullying and harassment.Today, The Globe’s Alanna Smith and Josh O’Kane, who have been covering this story, explain what led to this moment, and tell us about the battle for the future of the Banff Centre.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Israeli tanks and troops that entered Gaza on Friday are now focusing on encircling Gaza City – the population hub of the northern part of the strip. This comes after Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Saturday that Israel had entered a “long and difficult” new stage of the war. He stopped short of calling this new phase an all-out invasion, but airstrikes have escalated along with an advancing ground incursion.This strategy could have further implications for the region, and Israel’s allies in the West – including Canada – will be looking to figure out their parts in this ongoing war.Thomas Juneau is on the show to help us understand this next phase of the war and what it could mean geopolitically. He’s an associate professor at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs whose research focuses on the Middle East as well as Canadian foreign and defence policy.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Last week, Justin Trudeau announced an exemption for the carbon price on home-heating oil. The majority of homes that use home-heating oil are in Atlantic Canada. Premiers in other provinces, like Saskatchewan and Alberta, say that’s not fair – and are demanding carve-outs for heating fuel in their provinces too.Marieke Walsh is a senior political reporter for the Globe. She’s on the show to talk about why Trudeau would soften his signature climate policy and what political machinations are at play behind the scenes.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Over the weekend, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel was entering the “second stage” of the war with Hamas. Since then, the Israeli Defense Forces knocked out communication for people living in Gaza for two days, intensified their airstrikes, and started a sustained ground incursion by sending tanks and infantry into northern Gaza.The escalation has intensified international calls for a ceasefire. Meanwhile, In Israel, families of those taken hostage by Hamas are calling on the Israeli government to bring back their loved ones.In today’s episode, we bring you voices of those surviving inside the Israel-Hamas war and how things have changed in this new phase of the conflict. You’ll hear from civilians in Gaza, emergency workers, aid officials and people in Israel who are mourning their loved ones or pleading for their safe return.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Supreme Court has been missing a judge ever since Russell Brown resigned in June over allegations of improper conduct. On Oct. 26, Trudeau announced his nomination to replace Justice Brown – Mary Moreau, the Chief Justice of the Alberta Court of King’s Bench.With this pick – Trudeau’s sixth – the Supreme Court of Canada becomes majority women, for the first time. The Globe’s justice reporter Sean Fine joins us to talk about what Moreau will bring to the court, and why it might have taken so long to fill the seat.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There have been a lot of challenges for Canada’s biggest book retailer, Indigo. There was a massive cyber attack. The CEO and president left. The board had four directors leave. And now, to turn the page, its founder, Heather Reisman, has returned to be its CEO after her succession plan didn’t work out.Susan Krashinsky Robertson is The Globe’s retailing reporter and she has been closely following all the developments at this company that plays a big part into whether Canadian authors are successful or not.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Alberta has a controversial idea that is causing a stir with other provinces and the federal government: exiting the Canada Pension Plan. Alberta says if they exit, they’re entitled to more $330-billion of the assets that are collected from every worker and employer in the country outside of Quebec. Ontario’s finance minister says the plan risks “serious harm” for retirees across the country. Deputy Prime Minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland has agreed to meet with provincial and territorial counterparts to discuss the CPP’s future. Kelly Cryderman is a Globe reporter and columnist based in Calgary and she’s on the show to explain why Alberta wants out, the political ramifications and what it could mean for the rest of Canada. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Bed bugs are pretty much everywhere. They’re being spotted in major cities like Paris, London and even Toronto now. They’ve been found in 135 countries in the world, according to a recent study, and they can live in mattresses, couches, walls, lightswitches, even books. For a while, we were doing well at keeping the bed bugs in check, but not anymore.Murray Isman, a professor and dean emeritus at UBC’s Faculty of Land and Food Systems, explains how bed bugs became so prevalent, and why they’re so good at sticking around.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Rafah crossing – the sole entry point between Egypt and Gaza – remains a political, diplomatic and humanitarian tinderbox. While Egypt has kept the border firmly closed to Gazan refugees fleeing from the Israel-Hamas war, it has allowed an aid corridor for several dozen trucks delivering food, water and medical supplies. But relief workers say the aid is ‘insufficient’ for people’s needs in Gaza and Israel is not allowing fuel in despite pleas from aid groups.Geoffrey York, foreign correspondent for The Globe, talks about the crisis developing at the border and why it’s been so difficult to get things through and how Egypt’s relationship with Gaza and Israel plays into the situation.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

French immersion has become a cornerstone in Canadian education. One in 10 Canadian students are now enrolled in the program, as numbers doubled through the 1990s. But it has also inadvertently created a cultural and class divide – with some parents and students feeling like they’re getting left behind.Caroline Alphonso, The Globe’s education reporter, is the parent of two French immersion students and has reported on how the language program is dividing schools, why it exists and how parental power is shaping bilingual education in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As Canada tries to figure out its path forward in combating climate change, the question of which level of government is allowed to do what has become a sticking point in the courts. Most recently, the government of Alberta asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether a piece of federal environmental legislation was offside.The court’s decision was a surprise to both sides. So The Globe’s climate change columnist Adam Radwanski will explain what was in the ruling and why it now has some questioning the power of the federal government to lower greenhouse gas emissions.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Could your next favourite foods be created by a robot? While artificial intelligence has long been used in the production and assembly lines of food, some companies are now turning to AI to create new kinds of food, recipes and combinations that the human brain hasn’t conceived of before.Ann Hui, the Globe’s demographics reporter and former food reporter, joins the show to talk about this new frontier of food creation and the vital question of: does it taste good?Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant group based in Lebanon, is seen as a serious threat to the Israel-Hamas war. There are fears the group, considered the most powerful non-state actor in the world, could dramatically escalate the conflict if it joins the fight against Israel.Nathan Vanderklippe, international correspondent for the Globe, is on the show to explain Hezbollah’s influence, its ties to Hamas and how Lebanon factors into potentially being swept up in the war.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

With inflation still stubbornly high, it seems like interest rates could remain elevated for quite some time. And the stress of that has some Canadians wondering who gets to make these big economic decisions.Report on Business columnist David Parkinson explains the relationship between the Bank of Canada and the federal government, how interest rates are set and what changes might be worth considering when it comes to changing how Canada’s central bank works.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In Canada, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. It’s the second leading cause of death from cancer in Canadian women and second most common cancer in the country. Currently, guidelines say that screening should begin at the age of 50, but the task force in charge of these recommendations might lower the age to 40. And that has re-ignited a heated debate. Carly Weeks is the Globe’s health reporter. She’s on the show to explain why there’s advocates for and against this change – why some see it as a way to save more lives and others see it as causing more harm than good. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com 

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violenceHundreds of thousands of people have fled south in Gaza after Israel told 1.1 million people living in the northern part of the Gaza Strip to evacuate. Israel is expected to begin a significant ground offensive soon. As of Sunday evening, 150 Canadians are stuck in Gaza, hoping to flee to neighbouring Egypt.Israel has called up more than 360,000 reservists and has amassed tanks and troops at the Gaza border. This comes after Hamas’ surprise deadly attack in areas across Israel on October 7th. Since the conflict began, more than 3,600 have been killed on both sides, many of them civilians.Mark Mackinnon is on the show. He’s the Globe’s Senior International Correspondent and he’s been travelling through the region since the war began.Editor’s note: On this episode of The Decibel, Mark MacKinnon stated that in 2005, Israelis demolished greenhouses in Gaza. A detail omitted from that comment is that half the land occupied by greenhouses remained after Israelis withdrew from the area in the summer of that year. The remaining greenhouses were later damaged and looted by Palestinians.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com 

When Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, the U.S. was among the first nations to firmly side with Israel, pledging unequivocal support. The U.S. has historically been a staunch supporter of Israel, but this particular conflict has a different dimension due to the fact that some Americans and Canadians are among the hostages Hamas kidnapped.Adrian Morrow is The Globe’s Washington correspondent and he explains the geopolitical strategy of the Biden administration in response to the ongoing war, as the possibility of a military ground offensive into the Gaza Strip by the Israeli army grows.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In Her Defence, a new podcast series from The Globe and Mail, tells the story of Helen Nasland, in her words for the first time. Through a series of jailhouse interviews with The Globe’s Jana G. Pruden, Naslund speaks about the domestic violence she suffered and what led to a fateful night – that led to the murder of her husband. Naslund’s story and harsh sentencing captured the attention and outrage of tens of thousands of Canadians, asking what is fair punishment when a victim becomes the accused. This series dives into her fight for freedom and how the justice and legal systems deal with women who kill their abusers.If you’re experiencing intimate partner violence, you can find resources and your nearest shelterat sheltersafe.ca.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The RCMP has begun an investigation into allegations of misconduct made by two tech entrepreneurs. Their warnings to senior officials and experiences have cast a new light on alleged improper contracting practices and close ties between public services and private consultants.Bill Curry, the Globe’s Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief, joins the show to break down the allegations that throw into question the accountability of the federal government’s multi-billion dollar practice of outsourcing and where taxpayer money is ending up.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violenceOn Saturday, Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist group, launched one of the largest and deadliest attacks on Israel in decades. Militants stormed past borders on the Gaza Strip, killed civilians in nearby towns and took an unknown number of Israeli hostages. In retaliation, Israel formally declared war on Hamas and sent airstrikes into Gaza. In a single weekend, 900 are dead in Israel and close to 700 in Gaza have been killed.Emily Rose, Reuters correspondent in Jerusalem, joins the show to break down the attacks as they unfolded, Israel’s response and where the war could be headed next.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

For over a decade now, the rescue pups of PAW Patrol have been an obsession for toddlers around the world. And now, the box office is responding too — last week, its second feature film had the largest opening for a Canadian movie in more than a decade. This kids franchise is a big business. And it’s Canadian.Barry Hertz is the Globe’s deputy Arts editor and Film editor. And he is on the show to talk about the recent success of PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie and how a Canadian toy company struck gold with this brand.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The trial of Lieutenant-General Steven Whelan began in late September. Only a week later, it was over, with the case before a court martial dropped. Two charges of misconduct were brought against Whelan under the National Defence Act in December 2021.Whelan’s case highlights the long reckoning against some of Canada’s top military officials, who have been accused of improper conduct and sexual assault. The Globe’s senior political reporter Marieke Walsh joins the show to talk about the case and why questions over the military’s culture continue with every new trial.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In less than a decade, Mohammed Majidpour has racked up more than 30 offences in Vancouver. His crimes include theft, robbery, dangerous driving and numerous violent attacks on strangers. Recently, he pleaded guilty to his 11th assault on a stranger and, after spending almost a year in a pre-trial detention centre, was sentenced to a single day in prison. This is the 14th time he’s received a single-day prison sentence.Mike Hager is a reporter in The Globe’s B.C. bureau in Vancouver. He’s on the show to tell us how common Mohammed’s situation is in B.C. and why critics say it’s a symptom of deeper problems in the province’s corrections system.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Over the past few years, the Buddhist organization Bliss and Wisdom has been buying up several parcels of land in PEI. So much so, residents have begun to question how their acquisitions are legal in a province with strict rules around how much land individuals and organizations can own. Meanwhile, the monks insist they haven’t broken any rules.Investigative reporter Greg Mercer explains how some legislative loopholes have created a conflict in the eastern part of the province.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

When Russia invaded Ukraine back in February 2022, millions of Ukrainians fled the country. Many went to the neighbouring country of Poland, which welcomed hundreds of thousands of refugees. But now, things are changing, in part because of a contentious election in Poland. Thousands of Ukrainians are now leaving Poland, and setting up their lives somewhere else.Today, The Globe’s European Correspondent Paul Waldie tells us why tensions between Poland and Ukraine are growing and why support for Ukrainians fleeing the war is waning.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A capsule from the NASA spacecraft, Osiris-REx recently landed in a Utah desert after spending seven years in space. Inside the capsule is a sample from a more than 4 billion year-old asteroid named, Bennu. And it could answer some of the biggest questions about our existence.The Globe’s Science Reporter, Ivan Semeniuk is on the show to tell us about why this mission is so important and what this asteroid might tell us about how our solar system was formed and what exactly makes earth habitable.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Saint Lucia is known for its natural beauty, but the most iconic part of the island is along its southwest shore. Twin volcanic peaks – called the Pitons – rise up out of the ocean. The UNESCO World Heritage site is featured on postcards, literature, and even the Saint Lucian flag.They are also the site of a controversy involving a Dollarama executive who is trying to expand his luxury home on the mountainside. Investigative reporter Tavia Grant explains how this Canada-based businessman’s development exposed a lack of protections for this iconic site.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The federal government has been facing intense pressure to reduce the cost of food, as food inflation remains much higher than overall inflation. Some measures have been brought in, but many experts question whether they’ll actually be effective.Michael Von Massow, a food economist and professor at the University of Guelph, joins us to talk about why food prices are still so high, what role the government has, and why this is such a difficult problem to solve.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A recent report from Canada’s federal housing agency, CMHC says we need 3.45 million new homes built by 2030 in order to reduce skyrocketing housing costs. Supply has long been an issue especially in the expensive markets of Toronto and Vancouver. But, is it possible for Canada to ramp up construction so drastically and what happens if we don’t?The Globe’s Real Estate Reporter, Rachelle Younglai, is on the show today for a reality check on what can fix Canada’s housing crisis.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada’s judicial system is a bit of a mess right now. Cases are piling up. Staff aren’t showing up to work. And there aren’t enough judges. Even the Supreme Court of Canada has an unfilled vacancy currently.Sean Fine is The Globe’s justice writer and he explains what factors are contributing to the various delays in courts and how if they aren’t dealt with soon, some people may never face justice.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Follow In Her Defence wherever you get your podcasts. The first two episodes drop Tuesday, October 10th.Everyone knew bad things were happening on the Naslund farm. Then, in the fall of 2017, Miles Naslund’s body was found welded into a box at the bottom of a pond near his family’s property in Alberta, Canada. His wife and son were charged with first-degree murder.The Globe and Mail’s newest podcast In Her Defence brings you Helen Naslund’s story in her own words for the first time. Through a series of jailhouse interviews with reporter Jana G. Pruden, Helen speaks about the domestic violence she suffered, and what led to that fateful night on the farm. Meanwhile, Helen’s friends come to terms with the abuse they suspected had been going on for decades, and the reality that Helen could spend the rest of her life in prison.Tens of thousands of Canadians joined the outcry over Helen’s harsh sentence, asking what is fair punishment when a victim becomes the accused. Now they’ll hear firsthand about Helen’s life, her long fight for freedom, and the way the justice and legal systems deal with women who kill their abusers.

Canada’s relationship with India has been rocky for years, but it’s at a particular low point right now after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused agents of the Indian government this week of killing Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in B.C.Today, the Globe’s Asia correspondent James Griffiths joins us from New Delhi, India to discuss how this news is playing out there, why the relationship with Canada – and Trudeau in particular – has struggled, and the power India has in this moment.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ever since Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he would open up parcels of land in the environmentally protected Greenbelt, there’s been drama. From revelations of developers having ties to the Ford government, to probes from Ontario’s auditor-general and integrity commissioner, to resignations including one from Ford’s cabinet.With all the twists and turns of this story, we wanted to answer questions listeners have about what’s going on with this land. Today on the show, The Globe’s Ontario provincial politics reporter, Jeff Gray joins us to answer your burning Greenbelt questions.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar left Canada’s Sikh community with a lot of questions. On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave them a possible answer: he alleged that the Indian government was involved in Mr. Nijjar’s death. India was quick to deny any involvement.Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife discovered this information before the official announcement on Monday. And he is on the show to explain the allegations and how they fit into Canada’s complex relations with India.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There have been nine coups in seven African countries over the past three years – some analysts have called it a coup contagion, the Secretary-General of the UN called it a coup epidemic. Each country has its own circumstances, but there are common factors linking them.Geoff York, The Globe’s Africa Bureau Chief, joins us to explain why so many countries are facing coups, what it means for the people of those countries, and what role other countries like Russia, China and the US have in what’s going on.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Parliament is back for the fall session and it returns with a surprising shift in the political dynamic. Conservative Leader, Pierre Poilievre is riding high in several polls. And the Liberals are busy making housing announcements to show they are working on the affordability crisis facing so many Canadians today. Meanwhile, the NDP will be looking to push their agenda forward on dental care pharmacare this fall.The Globe’s Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief Bill Curry joins us on the show. He’ll tell us what’s ahead for the leaders and their parties and three things to pay attention to during the coming session.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Hundreds of people are sick and dozens are in the hospital in Calgary, after one of Canada’s worst outbreaks of E.Coli in kids ever. Some cases have left children hospitalized, leaving parents scared, frustrated and angry.Dave McGinn has been following the outbreak for The Globe. Today, he’ll tell us what warning signs might have been missed from the kitchen suspected to be at the centre of the outbreak, and how this fits into concerns around childcare in Canada more broadly.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Enbridge Inc. has become North America’s largest natural gas utility after acquiring three U.S. utilities for US$9.4-billiondollars. It’s a big bet on the role that natural gas is going to play in the future as governments try to transition the economy off of fossil fuels.Emma Graney is The Globe and Mail’s energy reporter. She has been covering the deal and explains how this fits into the wider picture of the energy industry in Canada, as well as our emission reduction targets.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The COVID-19 fall surge is upon us. But this year it’s different. Cases are rising again in Canada, reversing a trend from when cases were decreasing for most of 2023. And once again, there are new variants circulating.The Globe’s National Health Reporter Kelly Grant explains why we’re seeing a rise, what the Canadian government and public health experts say we should do about it, including when new boosters are available this fall.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Most people in Canada haven’t been able to view or post news content on Facebook or Instagram for over a month now. That’s because Meta – the company that owns both platforms – is protesting a new law that aims to get big tech companies to pay for news content appearing on its feeds.But this move isn’t without precedent. In 2021, Meta also blocked news in Australia because of similar legislation. The Australian government came to an agreement with the company – but not without some big concessions.James Meese is a senior lecturer at Melbourne’s RMIT University who researches media law and policy. He’s on the show to tell us what happened in Australia, how the legislation is working two years later and what Canada can learn from Australia’s experience.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were at the forefront of the convoy protest that rolled into Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022. As leaders, they encouraged supporters blocking the downtown to both ‘hold the line’ and protest peacefully. On Feb. 17, 2022, they were arrested. Now they are standing trial for their actions.Kristy Kirkup is a parliamentary reporter for the Globe and she went to the first week of their trial. She explains why this trial is expected to uncover new details about the convoy protest and catches us up on what happened in the opening days.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In 2012, nine out of 10 students at Kitchener’s Conestoga College were domestic. Today, they have more international students than any institution across the country … almost as many as the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia combined. This year, Canada is on track to bring in 900,000 international students.Globe postsecondary reporter Joe Friesen joins us to discuss how Canada’s international student population has grown so quickly, and why institutions have grown to depend on them – especially in Ontario.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

This year’s wildfire season has broken all kinds of records – including on emissions. Canada’s wildfires have doubled previous records for greenhouse gas emissions – and they’ve caused more emissions than all of Canada’s industries combined.Dr. Werner Kurz, a senior research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, explains how these wildfires are changing Canada’s forests, what it means for Canada’s emissions and how we can lessen the damage from wildfire seasons in the future.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

It’s back-to-school week for young people across the country. And despite bringing back full in-class learning three years since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, students continue to experience and report mental-health issues.Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary. She is going to talk to us about how we can be better at a policy level and in schools to help kids needing more mental-health support.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Small business owners are, on average, older than the Canadian population. That means that in the next ten years 75% of them are retiring, according to estimates from the federal government.So what happens to their businesses? Chris Hannay covers small business for the Globe and he joins us to discuss how these retirements could lead to a wave of consolidation of enterprise in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Collagen supplements are marketed as a holy grail anti-aging product. Bovine collagen is made from cattle hides, and a new investigation from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism traced the supply chain of some collagen companies all the way to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.Elisângela Mendonça is a London-based Brazilian journalist with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Her reporting pulls back the curtain on the dark side of the booming collagen industry.This episode originally aired on March 27, 2023.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has a clear housing goal. He wants to build 1.5 million new homes in 10 years. To accomplish this, his government has been looking at selling off the land under its possession, such as the Greenbelt, which has been engulfed in scandal.Now his government is looking at the lands owned by school boards across the province. Globe and Mail reporter Karen Howlett explains what the plan is and how the Ford government intends to execute it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Moammar Gadhafi, former Libyan dictator, has had billions sitting in Canadian bank accounts for almost 12 years after his death. This has caused further investigations and questions in terms of what this means for the Canadian banking sector.Rita Trichur is The Globe’s Senior Business Writer and Columnist joins us to discuss Gadhafi, his family, and all of his money sitting in Canadian banks.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Monday, Montreal police said the Old Montreal fire that killed seven people in March 2023 is now being treated as a criminal investigation. Alongside police looking into persons of interest in the case, the Globe’s Montreal-based reporter Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel reported on the many safety violations in the burned-out building that Montreal and Quebec officials had known about for more than a decade. He uncovered a moratorium on enforcing evacuation route violations that had been in place since 2018, which were quietly lifted in the days after the fire.His investigations are trying to answer: how did this happen and who is ultimately responsible for the deaths of seven victims and the safety of Montrealers?Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Tibet used to be a prominent focus of international attention, but that isn’t the case anymore as less and less information comes out of the region. But things are still very difficult for Tibetans as China cracks down. The Dalai Lama – who is the spiritual leader of Tibet – is 88, and there are concerns about what will happen for Tibet and its people when he eventually dies.Today, The Globe’s James Griffiths tells us about the situation in Tibet and those who have fled, and how Tibetans are thinking about the future of their community.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There are a lot of serious storms these days, and those storms are causing more and more damage, as residents of California are seeing this week in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Hilary.The storms we are seeing in Canada are changing – but not how you might expect. David Sills, a severe storms specialist and executive director of the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University, explains what changes he’s seeing in storms, how prepared we are to handle the damage from them, and the connection one of these storms has to a producer here at The Decibel.This episode originally aired on September 14, 2022.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Back in July, a former RCMP officer was charged with conducting foreign interference on behalf of China. We now know more about what the RCMP is accusing this officer of doing. And it involves a real estate tycoon, a “hired gun”, and a campaign called Operation Fox Hunt.Steven Chase, senior parliamentary reporter for the Globe, explains.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada needs a lot of housing – and the Liberal government is making this a priority at their cabinet retreat this week. But there are concerns that if we keep building new homes using current materials and practices, it could lead to a spike in our greenhouse gas emissions.Luigi Ferrara is the chair and CEO of the Brookfield Sustainability Institute, which looked into this issue. Today, he tells us why current building practices cause high emissions, and how homes could be built differently – and retrofitted – to become more sustainable.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As wildfires rage on across the country, more than 50,000 people have been forced out of their homes in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories and West Kelowna in British Columbia within the past week. And each one of those people have had to make life-changing decisions: Should you leave your home? What do you take with you? What might you never see again?Today, we hear those stories from Canadians on the move from fire-afflicted communities, told to the Globe’s reporters, including Alanna Smith, Mark Rendell and Mike Hager.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Fears of a recession have been looming since the worst days of the pandemic. And as inflation continues its slow but steady ascent, central banks around the world have tried to increase interest rates to cool things down. It’s easy to think that all of this means we might actually have avoided the worst.But Report on Business columnist and reporter Tim Kiladze says it’s too early to declare victory: we may not actually have achieved that mythical “soft landing” after all. He’s watching a few warning signs that could spell economic trouble for us later.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Journalist Connie Walker has been reporting on Indigenous stories for most of her career. From missing and murdered women to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, she has covered on some of the biggest stories in Canada in the last few decades. But it wasn’t until last year that she decided to look into her own family’s past. The urge to dig into her deceased father’s past appeared after her brother shared a story in the wake of the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. Connie talks about the importance of healing through sharing the truths, what she found out about her own family’s secrets and her new podcast, Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s.This episode originally aired on May 24, 2022.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Elective egg freezing is on the rise in Canada. Fertility clinics pitch it as a kind of insurance policy: put your eggs in the bank now, and you can come back for them later, when you’re ready to have a baby. But the procedure is invasive, expensive, and doesn’t guarantee a successful pregnancy later on.Alison Motluk, freelance journalist and writer of the newsletter, Hey Reprotech, is on the show to talk about what’s really involved in egg freezing. Read more about why she’s sounding a note of caution around the procedure here.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In the early hours of July 22, chaos was erupting in Nova Scotia. Rain was pouring down, causing intense flooding. People were panicked about whether to stay or leave their homes. Emergency crews were overwhelmed. In the end, four people died in the floods.A series of radio calls made between one volunteer fire department and the emergency dispatch provide a glimpse into when and how things unfolded that night. They also raise questions as to why it took officials almost two hours to issue an emergency alert with instructions to shelter in place.Lindsay Jones is the Globe’s Atlantic Canada reporter, based in Halifax. She has gone from covering wildfires to floods and is on the show to go through what we’ve learned in the weeks since the fatal flooding.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

It has been five years since the legalization of cannabis in Canada but we still know very little about health impacts from cannabis smoke. Almost no research has been done, despite government promises, so scientists and experts say we need more data so consumers can make an informed decision.Jameson Berkow is a reporter for the Globe who has covered the cannabis industry extensively. He’s on the show today to explain why this knowledge gap exists and how we can close it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Wednesday, Ontario’s Auditor-General, Bonnie Lysyk released an investigative report into the province’s decision to open up 3,000 hectares of its protected Greenbelt area for development. The Ford government claims this will be beneficial for the housing crisis but her report found that they have a different agenda.Jeff Gray is a Queen’s Park reporter for The Globe and Mail and he will be talking to us about the problems around the Greenbelt plan and where the Ford government went wrong.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

You’re never far from a parasite, no matter where you are. They’re responsible for illnesses like malaria that cause death around much of the world; the word itself is a derogatory term for something freeloading and disgusting.They’re also very important to the health of ecosystems.Parasite ecologist and University of Washington associate professor Chelsea Wood makes her case for parasite conservation, and why they’re actually complex forms of life that need to be protected.This episode originally aired on August 16, 2022.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

No one really knows what dark matter is. We just think it exists. And we believe it makes up 85 per cent of all mass in the universe. So how do you solve the mystery of something that is currently unknowable?Enter SNOLAB. This underground, clean lab is located in Sudbury, Ontario, and researchers there are running experiments to try to solve this cosmic query. Decibel producer Madeleine White, along with Globe science reporter Ivan Semeniuk, go two kilometres underground to visit SNOLAB and bring you up to date on the lab’s quest to discover dark matter.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Curly hair often gets a bad reputation for being too high maintenance but research has shown that it plays an important role in our evolutions – and even our brains.Dr. Tina Lasisi, a biological anthropologist who focuses on studying the evolution and genetics of human hair and skin, will talk to us about the importance of curly hair.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The James Webb Space Telescope has been getting some of the most detailed information and images from space since it launched a year and a half ago. And soon, there’s going to be a big boost in research on exoplanets – planets outside of our solar system – particularly ones that might be able to host life.Dr. Heidi White is an astrophysicist and science communicator with the Trottier Institute for Research on Exoplanets at the University of Montreal, which is one of the groups that will be using the telescope to study exoplanets. She tells us about the bizarre and fascinating planets that have already been discovered, and how close we are to finding life beyond Earth.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In September 1969, two baby girls were born in a tiny hospital in rural Newfoundland, a few hours apart. A simple accident led to both of their lives being changed forever.Over 50 years later, the truth serendipitously revealed itself and their lives changed again. Journalist Lindsay Jones unravels the mystery of how these two women were switched at birth.This episode originally aired on September 26, 2022.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Western preconceived notions about bears being deadly have led to dire consequences for bears. But the relationship and safety around bears is different with Indigenous communities and wildlife conservation groups, which have long learned how to coexist with the big mammals.We are joined by Joy SpearChief-Morris, a staff reporter with The Globe and Mail. She’s going to break down bear misconceptions and tell us how to respect bears when you encounter them.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

An ongoing class-action lawsuit against the Calgary Stampede alleges that for decades the organization did not properly protect children from a sexual predator.Carrie Tait is a reporter for The Globe’s Calgary bureau and she explains what’s behind the case.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ticks are awful. They can give you Lyme disease, brain swelling, and can make you allergic to red meat. And as the world warms, they’re steadily creeping further north.After Dr. Vett Lloyd contracted Lyme disease from a tick, she made it her mission to study these parasites. She tells us where ticks are, what to look out for, and what to do if you find one.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The ongoing actors and writers strikes in the U.S. are having huge implications for film production – including here in Canada, as productions slow to a trickle. Film unions in B.C. just signed an agreement that some worry could lead to ripple effects in the industry as well – because there aren’t any new stipulations around the use of generative AI.Josh O’Kane covers the intersection of arts and business for The Globe. Today, he tells us about this agreement in B.C., and why some are worried it could have long term consequences for the film industry.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The past three weeks on Earth have been the hottest since records began, and the effects of global warming are becoming increasingly deadly as temperatures continue to climb.The 2021 heat dome in B.C. led to the deaths of 619 people — it’s the deadliest weather event in Canadian history. Temperatures rose to above 40 degrees and stayed high even at night. In June 2022, the province’s coroner service released a report with recommendations to prevent deaths in the future.Frances Bula is a frequent Globe contributor who reports on urban issues in British Columbia. She’ll explain how the urban landscape contributes to the deaths, what’s being recommended to help cool B.C. buildings and what the rest of Canada can learn from it all.This episode originally aired June 9, 2022.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Wednesday, the Trudeau government unveiled a major cabinet shakeup. The reset comes at a time when the Liberals are facing criticisms over poor communication, Chinese interference in Canadian elections and the handling of a housing affordability crisis facing many Canadians.Ottawa reporter Shannon Proudfoot is on the show to explain what the Liberal government is trying to accomplish with these moves and whether it will have an effect on their recent sagging poll numbers.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

While conversations about movies are being dominated by ‘Barbie’ and ‘Openheimer’, another movie currently sitting in third place has become a surprise – and controversial – summer blockbuster.‘Sound of Freedom’ has already made US $125-million, despite being a low-budget film from an indie studio. Critics say the movie (about a former government agent’s pursuit to take down child-sex traffickers) is QAnon-adjacent and is stoking political conspiracy theories.The Globe’s Deputy Arts Editor and Film Editor, Barry Hertz is on the show to explain how this movie became a runaway hit and why it’s so controversial.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Dozens of asylum seekers have been sleeping on the streets of Downtown Toronto for weeks as a political stand-off between governments took place. While governments have been arguing over jurisdictional responsibility, community groups have stepped in.Toronto’s Revivaltime Tabernacle Church in North York has opened up its doors to over 230 asylum seekers, with volunteers donating their time and resources. We speak to Dustin Cook, The Globe’s Toronto municipal affairs reporter, about what he found out when he visited the church.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Cities across Canada have been dealing with the impacts of wildfire smoke this year – the smoggy skies and health effects. And while we’ve been seeing more smoke in big cities, remote Indigenous communities often bear the brunt of the negative effects of wildfires. Since 1982, 98% of smoke-related evacuations have been in Indigenous communities.Dr. Nicole Redvers is an associate professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at The University of Western Ontario and an expert on the impact of forest fires on Indigenous communities. She joins us to discuss the consequences of this year’s unprecedented wildfire season.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada’s national women’s soccer team is protesting unequal treatment by the sport’s governing body. The players say Canada Soccer is not transparent with its finances, and that they won’t agree to be paid less than the men. The men’s team supports them.Rachel Brady is The Globe’s sports reporter, and she’ll tell us about the dispute, the growing business case for equally funding women’s sport, and how that’s fuelling professional women’s soccer in Canada.This episode originally aired February 17, 2023.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ozempic and other medications for type-2 diabetes have shown to be effective treatments for obesity. But this discovery has led to many people, who do not medically need the drug, using it for vanity reasons.Not only has this led to supply shortages and concern around less discussed long-term effects, but it’s also changing the way we talk about body image and the body positivity movement.Dr. Sarah Nutter, Assistant Professor in Counseling Psychology at the University of Victoria, whose primary research is on weight stigma, explains how this may be harmful in the chase of a so-called ‘ideal’ body and how we treat our bodies as trends.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

We’re all familiar with the cycle now: Inflation is too high, so central banks keep raising interest rates. The hope is to get inflation back down to 2 per cent. But why 2? If we accept that things are going to keep getting more expensive, what difference does it make if it’s 2 or 3 per cent? Or 2.8?Report on Business reporter Mark Rendell explains why we’re aiming for 2-per-cent inflation, whether that target will change and what he learned from a recent interview with Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Car thefts have surged in Canada, with some provinces seeing increases of 50 per cent in a year. And Canada has become particularly popular for this type of crime.Today, The Globe’s wealth management and insurance reporter Clare O’Hara tells us what’s behind the rise of car thefts, and how you can best protect your own car from being stolen.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

At the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Turkey agreed to support Sweden’s bid to join the alliance. This paves the way for Sweden to become the 32nd member nation following closely behind Finland, which became a member earlier in the spring. The expansion of NATO is something Russia and President Vladimir Putin have used as a key rationale for the war against Ukraine – saying it jeopardizes Russia’s security.Timothy Sayle is an associate professor of history and director of the International Relations Program at the University of Toronto. He’s also the author of Enduring Alliance: A History of NATO and the Postwar Global Order. He’s on the podcast to explain the history and tension between NATO and Russia and what more countries joining the alliance tells us about the current state of global affairs.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Burning hours in an ER waiting room has long been a fact of Canada’s public health care system, but that wait time is starting to spike. Now, in Ontario it hovers at around 20 hours on average. And our cities, home to more people and more various determinants of health than anywhere else in the country, bear the brunt of it. In this episode, we’re looking at some issues that impact the growing hospital emergency room wait times: What factors are contributing to the problem? And can anything actually be done to alleviate it or is it a pipe dream?

App-based ride-share and food delivery companies rely on algorithms that dictate speed, behaviour and the wage of gig workers resulting in different payments for the same work. Labour experts are warning about ‘algorithm wage discrimination’ and concern around protecting workers when it comes to AI.Vanmala Subramaniam, The Globe’s future of work reporter, discusses what we do know about how this works, and the growing trend of AI being in charge of a worker’s pay.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The opioid epidemic is taking young lives – the number of 15-24 year olds dying from opioid overdoses tripled between 2014 and 2021 in Ontario. And young people are shown to be less likely to seek treatment for their addictions. A deadly mix of those factors and a contaminated drug supply are creating lethal outcomes.The Ontario Drug Policy Research Network’s lead investigator, Dr. Tara Gomes is on the show to take us behind the numbers and how the politics around safer supply programs are impacting the people affected by harm reduction.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

After months of negotiations, automaker Stellantis and battery maker LG Energy Solution have reached a deal with the federal and Ontario provincial governments. It’s worth up to $15-billion in subsidies for a plant that’s being built in Windsor, Ont.The plant is part of Canada’s push into the clean energy sector, but with a cost in the billions, it raises questions about whether this specific deal is worth the money.Adam Radwanski, The Globe’s climate change columnist and feature writer, takes us through why this deal could set a precedent for future projects like this.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

El Niño is back in a big way. This natural weather pattern is known to increase severe weather around the world. And scientists are trying to predict the impacts of this climate wild card – especially on top of global warming impacts.Ivan Semeniuk, The Globe’s science reporter, has been investigating the effects of El Niño. He’ll explain the impacts of El Niños in the past and what to expect this time around.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Last year, the federal government set an ambitious new immigration target — to bring in half a million permanent residents a year by 2025. While the country is already dealing with a pretty profound housing crisis, it’s likely everyone will feel the housing crunch even more as a record number of immigrants move to Canadian cities in the near future. Where will all these newcomers live and whose job is it to make sure the country is prepared? In this episode, we hear from Mike Moffatt, the Senior Director of Policy and Innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute at the University of Ottawa. We’re also joined by Gregg Lintern, the Chief Planner for the City of Toronto, who discusses how Toronto’s housing goals can be met in time.

Coal mining might seem like a job of the past, but global demand for it has actually surged in the past few years. Nearly 7,000 coal miners are still working in the industry. But the job is killing them. Inhalation of coal dust particles is leading to black lung, an incurable condition that workers describe as drowning in their own lung fluid. Worse yet, Canada doesn’t have a tracking system, which makes compensation difficult for many miners.Decades after coal fuelled Canada, miners are now being left behind. Greg Mercer, investigative reporter for The Globe, spoke to the workers fighting to have their labour remembered – and to protect future generations.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada, alongside much of the world, has plans to become net-zero by 2050. And one of their main action-items is to move away from fossil fuels. But does Canada have an economic plan for when the oil and gas sector declines?The Globe’s energy reporter Emma Graney tells us about why Canada is falling behind, and how this may impact our economy if we don’t start making these changes now.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

It’s sparkly, athletic and enthusiastic. But it’s grittier than you might think. Competitive cheer is a fast-growing sport in Canada that requires the skills of a gymnast and the agility of a dancer. Recently, almost 8,000 athletes from around the country gathered in Niagara Falls for the national cheer championship.The Globe’s feature writer, Jana Pruden was at the three-day competition where she spent time with athletes, parents and coaches. She’s on the show to explain what she learned and why she thinks we’ll be hearing a lot more about this sport in the coming years.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Grade 8 students of St. Demetrius Catholic School are in many ways like every other class – they’re nervous about going to high school, but excited for graduation. They’re also mostly refugees from the war in Ukraine, so they are also grappling with learning a new language and culture, and trying to set up a new life without knowing how long they’ll be here.The Globe’s education reporter Caroline Alphonso tells us the stories of some of these students, what they went through to get here and what it’s like starting a new phase of their lives somewhere they never thought they would be.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Multi-generational living in your 20′s and even 30′s has become common as young adults deal with unaffordable housing rates across Canada. And more than half of parents surveyed by the Globe and Mail say their adult kids pay rent while they live at home.Rob Carrick, the Globe and Mail’s personal finance columnist, joins us to discuss his recent survey on parents charging their adult kids for rent and trends we are seeing when it comes to multi-generational homes.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Over the weekend, a chaotic 36 hours unfolded in the Kremlin. The Wagner Group, a team of Russian military mercenaries created an uprising to challenge the Russian military, before Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin abruptly aborted the mission.But the damage was done – Russian president Vladimir Putin accused Prigozhin of trying to start a civil war. And for the first time in nearly two decades, Putin’s regime appears to be shaken publicly.Mark MacKinnon, The Globe’s senior international correspondent, talks about Putin’s rise to power and what this sudden mutiny says about his control in Russia.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Over 20 years later, someone has finally paid the price for Canada’s bread-fixing scandal – other than shoppers that is. Last week, baked-goods producer Canada Bread was fined $50-million for its role in coordinating the price hikes on bread.Susan Krashinsky Robertson is The Globe and Mail’s retail reporter. She explains why it has taken so long for the Competition Bureau to hold a company accountable and whether Canadians will be compensated for years of inflated bread prices.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Many municipalities across Canada are choosing profit over the environment when it comes to waste management options. This has left many Canadians questioning the country’s alleged commitment to long-term environmental protection.Dr. Cassandra Kuyvenhoven has a PhD in Environmental Studies with expertise in waste management. She breaks down the systematic issues surrounding Canada’s waste management system and what we could be doing better overall.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Controversy followed Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendocino after he said he was unaware that notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo was being moved from a maximum security to medium security prison. His explanation follows a pattern of federal ministers saying they’ve missed emails or hadn’t been briefed by their staff on major files.Marieke Walsh, the Globe’s senior political reporter, joins us to break down what’s happening with all these ministers missing crucial communications and what this says about competency in the federal government.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Usually the news coming from Canada’s Supreme Court is about the rulings they make, not about the Justices themselves. But the story of former Justice Russell Brown is unprecedented in many ways. It’s one that started in an Arizona hotel and ended with his resignation nearly six months later.The Globe’s Justice writer Sean Fine reports on what happened, how the investigation unfolded and what this means for Canada’s highest court both in terms of public confidence and its composition going forward.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Publication bans have become all but automatic in sexual-assault cases across Canada. These bans were put in place to protect survivors who have come forward. But My Voice My Choice, a group of women who are fighting those publication bans, argue that these bans prevent survivors who want to speak openly about their experiences.Molly Hayes and Zosia Bielski are national news reporters for The Globe and Mail. They’re on the show to explain the limits of these publication bans and the group fighting to make their voices heard.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As the world races to mine more critical minerals, China has managed to capture nearly 100 per cent of the cesium market. While not as well known as lithium, cesium is an even rarer mineral. There are only two mines globally, and one of them is in Manitoba.But its owners are based in Beijing. And that is raising a number of national security concerns. The Globe’s mining reporter, Niall McGee, explains why.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

British Columbia will send cancer patients across the border for radiation therapy to deal with growing wait times and backlog at home.The plan will cost the province three times the amount for treatment at home. Globe and Mail reporter Andrea Woo explains how this will work and what this says about the state of our healthcare system.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada’s immigration system is overwhelmed. Cases are backlogged and little information is being communicated to applicants. This has led to a surge of access to information requests, which has created another backlog, and has left people trying to settle in Canada in the dark.Tom Cardoso, an investigative reporter with The Globe, explains why people started using this workaround to get information on their immigration cases in the first place, and why things are likely going to get worse.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Chocolate may be sweet, but it comes at a steep cost. Labels that claim your favourite treat are sustainable can hide harsh realities for farmers. Millions of cocoa farmers in Africa and Latin America live in hunger and poverty because big corporations refuse to pay a fair price for their cocoa.In the face of this increasingly aggressive price war, some cocoa farmers have joined fair-trade, farmer-owned co-operatives. Together they are pooling their resources to better their communities and futures.Today, The Globe and Mail’s U.S. correspondent Adrian Morrow joins us to explain what he and the Globe’s Africa Bureau Chief Geoffrey York learned about the cost of chocolate.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada’s household debt is really high. In fact, we outrank France, Italy, the UK and even the U.S. And while, the debt load is high for Canadians of every age group, one particular generation stands by owing over $600,000 on average.Rob Carrick is The Globe and Mail’s personal finance columnist. He’s on the show to explain why Canadians owe so much and how over-indebted Canadians should be thinking about their finances.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In late May, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed one of the world’s harshest anti-homosexuality bills into law. It authorizes the death penalty in certain circumstances and a 20-year prison sentence for anyone who “promotes” or “normalizes” homosexuality. The situation was already bad for queer people in Uganda, but this new law makes things much worse.Kimahli Powell is the CEO of Rainbow Railroad, a non-profit organization that helps at-risk LGBTQ people get to safety around the world. He’s on the show to explain what it’s like for LGTBQ people in Uganda right now and what his organization is doing to help them.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

David Johnston resigned as the special rapporteur on Friday after looking into foreign interference in Canadian elections. The former Governor General’s decision to step down came days after he appeared at a parliamentary committee on his work and was grilled by MPs from opposition parties.Steven Chase is The Globe’s Senior Parliamentary Reporter and he has been leading the foreign interference reporting with colleague Robert Fife. Steven joins the podcast to discuss where the investigation in China’s efforts to meddle in Canadian politics goes from here.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

When Canada first passed legislation to create its access-to-information system, it was seen as a world leader in terms of transparency. But fast forward 40 years and that same system is sluggish, overwhelmed and preventing Canadians from their right to government information.Globe and Mail investigative reporters Robyn Doolittle and Tom Cardoso spent more than a year reporting on the state of the system and what’s behind all the bottlenecks. The Globe has also built a website that lets you explore more than 300,000 FOI summaries to help you navigate the system.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.comYou can access The Globe’s Secret Canada project here: https://www.secretcanada.com/

The 2007-2008 financial crisis hit countries around the world hard. But, Greece’s economy really faltered. At the peak of Greece’s crisis, unemployment hit 28 per cent, a figure higher than unemployment during the U.S.’ Great Depression. Greece required three hefty bailouts from the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund which totalled almost €300-billion. The Greek population suffered under strict austerity measures which cut salaries and closed hospitals.Fast forward to today and the economy is showing remarkable signs of a bounceback. Eric Reguly is The Globe’s European bureau chief. He’s on the show to explain what went wrong in Greece, how they’re turning things around and what other countries can learn from Europe’s surprising comeback kid.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A lot of Canada is on fire right now – fires are burning in nearly every province and territory and the federal government says this season could see the most land burned since we started keeping records.Today, The Globe’s Lindsay Jones joins us from Halifax to talk about the biggest wildfire the province has ever seen, and why fires are so bad there this year. Then, The Globe’s Mike Hager tells us about the wildfires burning across Canada and how prepared the country is to deal with it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canadians have been dealing with high inflation for two years now. But, as consumers, we keep spending. However, the picture of where we spend our money and how much of it is a messy one.The Globe’s retailing reporter Susan Krashinsky Robertson explains why some stores are seeing a drop in some areas of spending, even as Canadians are spending at an extremely high rate.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Toronto District School Board – the largest school board in the country – recently reported that more than 300 kids were involved in violent incidents this year. In March, Quebec’s education minister announced he was preparing a strategy to deal with increasing violence in schools. These are just two examples of the more frequent reports of violence in schools across the country, particularly among teenagers.Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt is a professor at the University of Ottawa and Canada Research Chair in Children’s Mental Health and Violence Prevention. She’s on the show to explain why violence in schools is on the rise and what research tells us about how to prevent it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The six biggest banks in Canada – RBC, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC, TD, and National Bank recently reported their second-quarter earnings. The majority did not hit target expectations. While banks don’t always meet analyst forecasts, the fact that so many of them had disappointing results in the same period is surprising.Stefanie Marotta reports on banking for The Globe. She’s on the show to explain what’s behind these lower-than-expected profit numbers and what it means for the economy – and Canadians.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

After months of relative quiet in Kyiv, the city has been under attack this week by Russian drones and missiles. There have also been attacks within Russia. Looming over these events is the anticipated, and secretive, Ukrainian counteroffensive to regain territory it has lost to Russia in the war.Today, The Globe’s senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon joins from Kyiv, Ukraine, to discuss these latest attacks and what a Ukrainian counteroffensive might look like.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Alberta is a province with a long history of conservative rule. And on Monday, Danielle Smith and the UCP added a new chapter by winning a majority. But it wasn’t a blowout. Rachel Notley and the NDP managed to score 38 seats, up from 23 in the previous sitting of the legislature.This is creating a new political dynamic in the province and Globe reporter and columnist Kelly Cryderman is on the show to explain what it means for the rest of the country.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Throughout the pandemic, Canadians were warned about the potential collapse of emergency rooms. ERs were stretched to the limit, as surges in patients ran up against labour shortages of doctors and health care workers. But now that the worst of the pandemic is over the situation in ERs hasn’t improved. Patients and doctors now paint a grim picture of a dysfunctional medical care system that remains in crisis, with few long -term fixes on the way.Carly Weeks, health reporter for The Globe and Mail, joins the podcast to explain why ERs are being pushed to the brink and what it says about the health care Canadians receive now.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Avian influenza is getting more serious each year, as an unprecedented number of birds either succumb to the virus or are culled to prevent spread. After a dog in Ontario and thousands of sea lions died from the flu, there’s growing concern about this strain’s ability to infect mammals.Dr. Samira Mubareka is an infectious diseases physician, medical microbiologist and scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute. She explains what’s going on with avian flu right now, where it could be headed and what we’re doing to stay ahead of it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

With a cost-of-living crisis and rampant inflation, there’s a lot on the line for Turkey in the runoff election on Sunday. But this also matters beyond Turkey’s borders. The country is an important – and often challenging – ally for Western countries.Today, Istanbul-based writer and photographer Adnan Khan tells us what issues are at play in this election and what it could mean for Turkey’s role on the world stage.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Seasonal allergies are getting worse all across North America, in large part due to changes in pollen driven by climate change. But fear not, there is hope.Dr. Anne Ellis is a professor and division chair in the department of medicine at Queen’s University. She’s on the show today to discuss the effect worsening allergies can have on us and what we can do to live with them.Don't forget to fill out our survey!Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Former governor general David Johnston has ruled out a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s elections, despite ongoing calls for one. Johnston was appointed special rapporteur in March to look into allegations of Chinese interference, driven largely by The Globe and Mail’s reporting.Today, The Globe’s senior parliamentary reporter Steven Chase explains why Johnston decided against a public inquiry, and the significance of that decision.Don't forget to fill out our survey!Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Whether you like it or not, AI is everywhere. It unlocks your phone through facial recognition, it manages spam emails in your inbox and it creates realistic photos of the Pope in a puffer jacket. With rapid developments in technology infiltrating our everyday lives, it’s a race for governments to figure out how to regulate it. And Ottawa might be playing catch up.Joe Castaldo is with The Globe’s Report on Business. Today, he explains the federal government’s plan to regulate AI for consumers and data protection, and how this proposed legislation compares to others worldwide.And here's a link to our survey!Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Experts are anticipating another chaotic season of air travel in the coming months. Along with ongoing labour disputes, Canadian airlines have scheduled more flights for the summer. There’s a catch though: they might not have the crew to staff them.Today, The Globe’s transportation reporter Eric Atkins explains why airlines still might not have enough staff and what we’re in for in the coming months.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Two hundred and fifty kilometres above the Arctic Circle is a greenhouse that provides fresh local produce to its community. It’s called Naurvik and it’s located in the Inuit hamlet of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut. Powered primarily by wind- and solar-energy, Naurvik is becoming a new source of food for a region of Canada that suffers chronic food insecurity given how remote it is.Photojournalist Amber Bracken visited Gjoa Haven earlier this year and will take us on a tour inside the greenhouse that is beating the odds.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Wildfires are raging across Alberta with early-season fires forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. Firefighters from across the country and the U.S., as well as the Canadian Armed Forces, are streaming in to battle the flames. Officials are predicting the worst is yet to come with high temperatures and no rain in the forecast.Meanwhile, a provincial election is right around the corner. United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith is trying to balance her role as premier with her political campaign for the job. And frustrations amongst some residents are growing.Reporter Carrie Tait from the Globe and Mail’s Calgary bureau is on the show to explain the political impacts of this natural disaster.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, but tensions continue to rise between the two countries over allegations of foreign interference and concerns about human rights. So the Canadian government is trying to expand trade to other places – like India.The Indian and Canadian governments have been negotiating for more than a decade on a trade agreement, but this might finally be the moment we get one. Today, Rita Trichur, The Globe’s senior business writer and columnist, explains why it’s taken so long for an agreement to come through and why it’s so important.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On May 5th the World Health Organization declared the end of the COVID-19 emergency. But what does that mean for the pandemic? How should we be thinking about the COVID virus now and what kind of risk are we still exposed to?It’s taken three years of social distancing, mask mandates, and varying degrees of lockdown to get to this stage, but what comes next is still a bit of a mystery. Today, Lisa Barrett, an infectious diseases specialist at Dalhousie University and a practicing clinician, how we can manage COVID now and where the disease could go from here.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

BlackBerry changed our lives when it created the world’s first commercially successful smartphone. But its dominance was disrupted and the Canadian tech giant lost nearly everything. BlackBerry’s dramatic fall from grace is now the topic of a film that is in theaters May 12.The Globe’s technology reporter, Sean Silcoff, who co-authored the book that film is based on, is on the show to discuss how he got the inside access needed to tell the story of BlackBerry’s rise and fall and explains why it is still relevant today.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly condemned Canada’s expulsion of Chinese diplomat, Zhao Wei for allegations of foreign interference. In response, China expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai.While headlines about Chinese interference have been front and centre in Canada ever since the Globe first reported on China’s interference attempts back in February, this latest row has also hit a nerve in China. Today, The Globe and Mail’s Asia correspondent, James Griffiths, explains how the current escalation in tensions are viewed in China.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On May 8, Canada expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei in response to China’s interference in Canadian politics. The extraordinary move is the first expulsion of a Chinese diplomat in decades and could  carry substantial consequences given the size of Canada’s economic and social ties with China.This is the latest development in an ongoing saga around Chinese interference in Canada which broke after The Globe and Mail reported on secret and top-secret CSIS documents alleging a sophisticated strategy by China to disrupt the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Today, Campbell Clark, The Globe’s chief political writer, explains what has happened to bring us to this moment and how this action will impact Canada’s relationship with China. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to help millennials hoping to buy a first home with a new program, called the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. It was supposed to help 100,000 Canadians buy their first home but, according to real estate professionals, the program was doomed from the start.To understand what has gone wrong, economics reporter Matt Lundy crunched the numbers. He explains why the program has fallen short of its goal and how it is failing to address the real problem in real estate.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Economic predictions can be incredibly important for companies and governments trying to plan for the months and year ahead – and that ripples down to individuals trying to budget as well. But some experts worry that the forecasts are becoming less and less accurate.Todd Hirsch has been an economist for around three decades. Today, he tells us why forecasts aren’t working as well as they used to, how so-called ‘black swan’ events are changing things, and what that means for our ability to plan for the future.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Saturday, King Charles III will be crowned in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London. This is the first coronation of a British monarch in 70 years and it’s brought up questions from Canadians about why a democratic country like Canada still maintains ties with the monarchy. A recent Angus Reid Poll found that 52 per cent of respondents do not want to continue as a constitutional monarchy. But leaving isn’t that easy.Errol Mendes is a lawyer, author and constitutional and international law professor at the University of Ottawa. He’s on the show to explain how Canada’s constitution makes leaving the monarchy almost impossible.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

When Ontario Place first opened in 1971, it was a jewel on Toronto’s waterfront showcasing modern architecture and Ontario culture. But in the 50 years that followed, Ontario Place faced an identity crisis. The space hosted a water park and a night club to name a few. And while a few venues have stayed open much of the park closed in 2012. The Provincial government cited dwindling attendance and soaring costs.Ontario Premier Doug Ford has a new plan that he says will turn the 155-acres of land into a ‘world class’ destination. But the project is already mired in controversy, with critics saying the Premier’s plan is shrouded in secrecy and favouritism.Decibel producer Sherrill Sutherland toured Ontario place with The Globe’s architecture critic, Alex Bozikovic to learn about why so many people are fighting to keep it a public space. Plus, the Globe’s Queen’s Park reporter Jeff Gray explains the politics behind this lucrative piece of land.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In 2021, the federal government began a project to plant two billion trees by 2031. The goal of this project was to use these trees to help Canada reach its climate goal. However, a recent audit shows that the government is not on track to hit those numbers.The Globe’s energy and environment reporter Matt McClearn is on the show to walk us through the difficulties of the 2 Billion Trees program, and how its success or failure could impact our other pressing climate goals.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Online Streaming Act is officially law. Now, online streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify have to promote and invest in Canadian content. But there are still questions and concerns – from content creators themselves – over how this law will actually work.Kate Taylor is the arts critic for The Globe and Mail. Today, she tells us about this new law, and how it might change the landscape of content made in Canada and what you’ll end up watching on your streaming platforms in the future.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Alberta election starts today – and one group in particular is ready for it. It’s called Take Back Alberta and it’s a network of people who share the same values: no vaccine mandates, no pandemic lockdowns – and Christian faith. Together, its members are trying to reshape politics in the province from the ground up.Reporter Carrie Tait spent months going to the group’s meetings and talking to its leader to get a sense of its plans in this very competitive election between Danielle Smith of the United Conservative Party and the NDP’s Rachel Notley, as well as what its goals are once the election is over – both inside Alberta and beyond.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Back in September, we told you about some Afghans trying to flee the Taliban in 2021 who had been given Canadian travel documents – but they were not authentic. We now know that a Canadian Senator sent approximately 640 of these documents to Afghans, who are now stranded.Today, The Globe’s senior parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh tells us what we know about who’s involved in this bureaucratic mess, and the impossible situation for the people who received these documents.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

School food programs in Canada are struggling to make ends meet right now. With the high price of food, it’s costing some programs as much as 25 percent more than previous years to keep running. And they’re seeing higher demand too – more children in need of a balanced meal.Caroline Alphonso spoke with programs across the country that are worried their funding won’t make it to the end of the school year. Today, she tells us what’s happening with school food programs, why they’re so important and what might be done to fix the situation.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at  thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Vietnam is in the midst of a dramatic shift caused by climate change. Some of the country’s most fertile land along the Mekong Delta has been devastated by flooding from rising ocean levels.Doug Saunders, a columnist at The Globe, is on the show today to talk about climate migration in Vietnam and what really happens when climate change forces someone from their home.This episode is part two of Undercurrents – The Globe’s year-long series devoted to the global migration crisis. You can find part one here.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Sudan is on the brink of civil war, after fighting broke out between the country’s military and a paramilitary group, the RSF. Hundreds of people have been killed, and thousands more injured. This, on top of an existing humanitarian crisis that is now expected to get much worse.Today, we hear from two Sudanese-Canadians, Esraa Fadul and Ahmed Osman, who are stranded in Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, surrounded by warfare. Then we’ll hear from The Globe’s Africa Bureau Chief Geoffrey York about what led to this conflict and what it means for an already-struggling country.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Since the pandemic, confidence in childhood vaccines has decreased around the world, according to a new report by UNICEF. Before COVID hit, 91 per cent of Canadians believed vaccines are important during childhood. That number is now 82 per cent.So what has caused this drop in the faith in children’s vaccines? The Globe’s health reporter, Carly Weeks explains to us how this happened, how it could affect Canada’s future outbreaks and what can be done to get those rates back up.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The federal government has restored its funding to Hockey Canada after removing it following the revelation that it settled a lawsuit accusing eight members of the 2018 world juniors hockey team of sexual assault. Since the scandal broke a year ago, Hockey Canada has endured audits, board resignations, and investigations. Its executives and board members have been called to Parliament Hill to testify at hearings, and big sponsors, like Tim Hortons and Canadian Tire, have fled.So, how much has the organization changed within the last year to justify this restored funding? Investigative reporter Grant Robertson explains the recent developments and the current state of Hockey Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The largest public sector union in Canada went on strike on Wednesday after talks broke down with the government over better wages and remote working rules. This strike is expected to cause serious administrative delays for Canadians, from passport processing to filing your taxes. It’s the most recent event in a long string of labour disputes from all over the country in the last two years.The Globe’s future of work reporter Vanmala Subramaniam explains what the significance of this strike is, how we got to this point and the effects it might have on the public, the government and unions going forward.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Last month, Tennessee became the first state to pass-anti drag law and thirteen other U.S. states also have bills looking to ban or restrict drag performances. Over the past decade, drag has become more mainstream with the popularity of shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, but this past year, drag shows have become the target of a U.S. political culture war.The Globe’s U.S. correspondent, Adrian Morrow is on the show to tell us what it is about this moment that has U.S. states targeting drag. Plus we’ll hear from Brian Hernandez, a performer in San Antonio Texas about their experience living in a state that’s trying to ban what they do for a living.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation has been coming under fire in the past few weeks over a controversial donation it received back in 2016. The Globe and Mail learned back in February that the donation – which was initially said to be from two Chinese billionaires – was allegedly tied to the Chinese government. Now, there’s even more to the story.Today, The Globe’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife is back on the podcast. He and Globe reporter Steven Chase have been breaking this news. He’ll tell us the story of this donation, how the Trudeau Foundation handled it and how this latest controversy ties into the larger web of Chinese interference.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

What happens when a Canadian company is accused of wrongdoing abroad? Well, in 2018, Ottawa announced the creation of a new ombudsperson to investigate these kinds of claims. But since then, the Canadian Ombudsperson for Responsible Enterprise – also known as CORE – has yet to complete a single investigation of a complaint.Investigative reporter Tavia Grant – who went to Peru to see the effects of missing Canadian oversight – explains what she has found out about CORE.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Since 1951, 24 Sussex Drive has been the Prime Minister’s official residence. Recently, It’s been making international headlines, but for the wrong reasons. The mansion is in such bad shape that rodent carcasses line the walls and are affecting the air quality. There’s a laundry list of problems including mould, asbestos, leaks and a cold winter draft. In the eight years Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has been in power, he and his family have never moved in.The Globe’s writer-at-large and political columnist, John Ibbitson is on The Decibel to tell us how the Prime Minister’s residence has fallen into such disrepair and why its fate has become as politically toxic as its insides.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canadian officials have been warning since the war in Ukraine began of potential cyber attacks from Russia as retribution for Canada helping Ukraine. This week, at least two Canadian government websites were down, courtesy of Russian hackers, and claims surfaced that Russian hackers had compromised a Canadian gas company.Steven Chase is The Globe’s senior parliamentary reporter. He’s seen the documents detailing the alleged attack on the Canadian company. He’ll tell us about these attacks, and how they fit into Russia’s broader plan to punish supporters of Ukraine.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

For months now, Canada’s unemployment rate has been hovering around 5 per cent – a near historic low. It’s a number that economists are watching closely because they expect it to rise now that the Bank of Canada has hiked interest rates.But it hasn’t. And businesses are still complaining about a shortage of workers. So what’s going on? Economics reporter Matt Lundy explains.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On April 4, the body of Linda Mary Beardy, a woman from Lake St. Martin First Nation, was discovered at a Winnipeg landfill. It’s the same landfill where, less than a year ago, the victim of an alleged serial killer was found. Police say Ms. Beardy’s death is not being considered a homicide, but it has brought renewed attention and outrage over the deaths of First Nations women in the area.In the last year, the remains of four First Nations women, believed to be victims of a serial killer, have been discovered or are believed to be in Winnipeg landfills. The outrage from the women’s communities is not just over their deaths, but also over what they say is failure and inaction from Winnipeg Police.The Globe’s crime and justice reporter Molly Hayes joins The Decibel to discuss why police have refused to search one of the landfills and the renewed fight for answers from the families and friends of missing and murdered Indigenous women.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Adrial and Adiah Nadarajah are the youngest twins ever born to survive to their first birthday – they were born at just 22 weeks, about half of a full term pregnancy. If they had been born just two hours earlier, medical staff would not have tried to resuscitate them. They would have been considered too young to live.Their story is part of the medical and moral challenges that arise when babies are born dangerously early. Kelly Grant spoke with the parents and doctors of the babies – and attended the twins’ first birthday party.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The smart city movement — driven by the idea that we can leverage data and technology to optimize life in our cities — is attractive for many reasons. But critics say that smart cities may not be so wise, and in some cases, they’ve proven to be dangerous for democracy. In the first episode of season three, we’re doing a deep dive into this very concept: What are smart cities, and who are they for? Where has smart-city technology helped, and when does it start to wade into surveillance-capitalism territory ? Adrian speaks to John Lorinc, an urban affairs journalist and the author of Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias, about how the perception of smart cities has shifted over the years, and how smart city technology can both improve and disrupt our lives. Plus, Globe and Mail reporter Josh O’Kane shares his reporting from his new book, SIDEWAYS: The City Google Couldn’t Buy, which looks at Alphabet’s failed attempt to build a smart city in Toronto and what that high-profile example tells us about citizen engagement and good governance around the world. 

Insomnia, dizziness, hallucinations – these are just a few of the life-changing symptoms that dozens of people have reported having in New Brunswick. After several years and a provincial investigation, patients are still left wondering what is going on. They want the federal government to step in and examine their situations further.The Globe’s health reporter Wency Leung joins the podcast to explain the fight patients have on their hands to get answers.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Tuesday, Donald Trump became the first former U.S. president to be indicted on criminal charges. He faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records relating to hush money paid to porn star, Stormy Daniels.The scene at the Manhattan courthouse where Mr. Trump appeared was a frenzy of cameras, journalists, protesters and Trump supporters. While this moment is a first in U.S. history, Jared Yates Sexton argues that focusing solely on Trump ignores the underlying factors that brought the country to this point. Jared is a frequent contributor to The Globe and the author of several books including “The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis.” He’s on the podcast to tell us about where the MAGA movement that brought Trump to power is at now and how they might shape the current political situation today.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

About two years after the merger was proposed, Rogers and Shaw are becoming one company. To ensure that this deal doesn’t hurt Canadians, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne put a number of conditions on the companies involved. But are they enough?Jennifer Quaid is an expert in competition law in Canada. She’s an Associate Professor and Vice-Dean of Research of the Civil Law Section at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. She explains what these deals mean for telecom competition in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The inquiry into Canada’s worst mass shooting has ended with the release of its final report. The 3,000 page document condemns the RCMP in how the police force responded to the tragedy where 22 people were killed in Portapique, Nova Scotia, in April 2020. A number of recommendations call for a complete overhaul of Canada’s federal police force in the hopes that a tragedy like this never happens again.The Globe’s Lindsay Jones is a reporter at the Atlantic bureau who was there as the final report was released to survivors, family and community members as well as government and police officials. She joins the podcast to share the main takeaways from the report and whether the RCMP will take these recommendations seriously.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The change came swiftly. A few hours after being announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden, the rules at Roxham Road had tightened.Globe reporter Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel went to the popular unofficial border crossing and spoke to migrants trying to make the trek as changes to the Safe Third Country Act now limit who can claim asylum in Canada via that passage.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As Canada races to compete in the clean tech sector as countries work toward their net zero climate goals, investors are trying to figure out where to park huge sums of money to back projects that are a part of this.Enter Canada’s green taxonomy, a guide to assess how green a project requiring investment actually is. Report on Business journalist Jeffrey Jones explains how it works and what it means for Canada’s oil and gas industries.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Canadian federal government unveiled its 2023 budget on Tuesday, which sets the economic strategy and tone for the next fiscal year. There’s a lot packed into this document, ranging from measures to help with inflation to an expansion of the national dental plan to investment incentives to help us transition to a greener economy. But how will this budget really impact you?The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau – Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Bill Curry, personal finance columnist Rob Carrick, senior political reporter Marieke Walsh and senior Parliamentary reporter Steven Chase – join the podcast, five minutes at a time, to break down the key takeaways of this year’s budget.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The price of concert tickets has risen dramatically – with some tickets costing thousands of dollars. Ticketmaster, which controls a huge proportion of the market, has come under fire recently for some of its practices, like dynamic pricing and murky service fees. It’s now the subject of a proposed class action lawsuit in Quebec.The Globe’s Josh O’Kane has been covering concerns around Ticketmaster for years. He’s here to explain what’s going on with the company, how Ticketmaster got such a stranglehold on the market, and what it means for the music industry.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Collagen supplements are marketed as a holy grail anti-aging product. Bovine collagen is made from cattle hides, and a new investigation from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism traced the supply chain of some collagen companies all the way to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.Elisângela Mendonça is a London-based Brazilian journalist with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Her reporting pulls back the curtain on the dark side of the booming collagen industry.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In 2022, the number of people moving to Alberta hit its highest level in almost a decade. At the same time, a record number of people left Toronto for other provinces. And it all comes down to affordability. In this episode, we’ll delve into the factors contributing to the rise in interprovincial migration and hear from Canadians who made the move - and how it’s worked out for them.

Haiti is in crisis, after months of cholera outbreaks, a fuel and energy crisis, and violence. The UN estimates that 500 people have died in gang violence incidents this year alone. And Canada is facing pressure – largely from the US – to intervene.Michaëlle Jean is the former governor-general of Canada, and the former UNESCO Special Envoy to Haiti, where she’s from. Today, she tells us what led Haiti to this crisis, and what role Canada should have in the country.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada has committed to going net-zero by 2050 and a big part of making that goal a reality is by transitioning the economy from being fossil fuel dependent to a cleaner and low-carbon one. Canada’s Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland calls the change the most “significant economic transformation since the Industrial Revolution”.So what will a ‘green economy’ look like for Canada? And how can it establish itself as a major player as it competes with the United States, its biggest ally and rival? The Globe and Mail’s climate change columnist Adam Radwanski explains.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Allegations of academic misconduct at Canadian universities have risen sharply in the 2020 to 2021 school year as more and more students turn to hiring people to complete assignments and tests for them. The consequences for the student are clear: a permanent blemish on their academic careers and possible impact on their job prospects if they are caught.But the wider trend is also a concern for Canadian universities as a whole, as their brand depends on maintaining academic integrity. Post-secondary education reporter Joe Friesen explains.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Globe and Mail has been reporting extensively on China’s interference in Canadian elections. This information came to light, in part, because of a whistleblower who wrote an Opinion piece in The Globe this weekend.The Globe rarely publishes Opinion pieces by confidential sources. Today, David Walmsley, The Globe’s Editor in Chief, explains why he decided to publish this piece, and how he feels it contributes to the broader conversation of China’s interference in Canada. And, you’ll hear the entire piece from the whistleblower, in their own words.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As revelations about China’s interference continue, so do calls for a foreign agent registry. The U.S. and Australia have registries like this, where anyone acting on behalf of a foreign entity has to disclose it. But the idea has its detractors.David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China, has been advocating for a foreign agent registry for years. He explains how it might work in Canada, why it’s controversial and how the registry could slow China’s interference campaign in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Oversized pucks clanging as they’re shot across the ice, the constant tapping of hockey sticks as players weave through oversized pylons. These are some of the sights and sounds of blind hockey.Canadian Blind Hockey began in 2009 and now has 14 programs across the country. Canada’s winter game adapted for the visually impaired is an auditory experience and so The Decibel hit the ice to find out more about it.The Globe’s sports reporter, Rachel Brady and Decibel producer Sherrill Sutherland laced up their skates and joined a youth Canadian Blind Hockey program to hear from parents, players and coaches.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank came swiftly after a panicked run on deposits. Despite the U.S. government enacting safeguards, there is anxiety in the markets wondering which bank might fall next.But how safe are Canadian banks? Report on Business columnist Tim Kiladze is on the show to explain the fallout and what Canadian regulations are in place to try and contain it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Since the Bank of Canada started hiking its benchmark interest rate just over a year ago, there’s a growing number of mortgage-holders with monthly payments that no longer cover the principal or even the interest portion of their loan.Rachelle Younglai covers real estate for The Globe and she recently reported that at CIBC, 20 per cent of mortgage-holders are seeing their loan balances grow instead of shrink. This represents $52-billion worth of mortgages. CIBC isn’t the only bank in this situation but it’s the only one that’s disclosing this information.Rachelle is on the show to explain why this might be a cause for concern and what mortgage-holders should be thinking about.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

We often think of health as an individual action – drink more water, exercise, eat well. During the pandemic, we thought more about the health of people around us as well – with social distancing, masking and vaccinations. But there’s a lot more that goes into our health.Today, we’re talking to the Globe’s health reporter Wency Leung about why it’s so important to expand our understanding of health beyond our bodies. Then we talk to Indigenous psychologist Dr. Rod McCormick about how he helps people connect with communities and nature to find healing.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Could the rising price of groceries be chalked up to corporate greed? That was the question at a House of Commons committee last week when the executives of Canada’s three biggest grocers testified. Loblaw Cos. Ltd. president Galen Weston, CEO of Empire Co. Michael Medline and CEO of Metro Inc. Eric La Flèche all refuted claims that they were gouging customers under the guise of inflation.Food economist Michael von Massow says blaming Canada’s big grocers doesn’t explain the complex web of factors that have led to sustained food inflation. He helps untangle exactly what’s behind the rise, how much ‘greedflation’ is a part of it and how Canada could make things easier for consumers.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Netflix is facing a backlash after announcing it’s cracking down on password sharing in Canada, among other countries. The company says 100 million of its customers worldwide share passwords, which Netflix claims is cutting into its revenue.Kean Birch, director of the Institute for Technoscience and Society at York University, says that Netflix’s business model was bound to run into problems like this, as competition from other streaming services pulls content off the platform and draws users away. But will it work?Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

British Columbia revealed its 2023 budget on Feb. 28. It introduced a host of new spending measures including a first in Canada: A plan to make contraception universally available in the province free of charge.Globe health reporter, Carly Weeks explains why reproductive health experts are celebrating the move and what this could mean for funding contraception in the rest of the country.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

After weeks of resisting pressure from all sides, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has ordered two probes into Chinese election interference. This follows The Globe and Mail reporting on secret and top secret CSIS documents alleging a sophisticated strategy by China to disrupt the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.But criticism is still mounting on Trudeau around how transparent and public these probes will actually be. The Globe’s Ottawa bureau chief Bob Fife is back to tell us why Trudeau is changing his stance and how likely these probes are to shed light on the extent of China’s interference.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The ground and water near Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation in northern Alberta has become a toxic mess. A nearby oil sands site, run by Imperial Oil, has leaked industrial waste into the hunting and fishing grounds of the Indigenous community.But the First Nation alleges Imperial Oil and the provincial regulators tasked with keeping the companies in line, hid the seriousness of the leak. Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation is only now learning of how badly their food and water could be contaminated. Energy reporter Emma Graney talks about who knew what when and how this major oil leak is destroying any trust between the public, regulators and oil sands companies.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Right now, one in 25 Canadians who use Google can’t find some news sites through its search bar. That’s because the tech giant has purposely blocked these searches in response to legislation put forward by the federal government.The Globe’s Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Bill Curry is on the show to explain the bill taking the fight to Google and other big tech companies and what the government is trying to accomplish with this legislation.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

For years, a diagnosis of cystic fibrosis has often meant an early death for patients. This week, Cystic Fibrosis Canada released its annual data report this week for 2021. A new drug, Trikafta, is keeping patients out of hospitals and off of transplant lists.The Globe’s health reporter Kelly Grant explains why doctors are now talking about cystic fibrosis as a disease in transition and the hope of a new future for thousands of patients.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada has a high rate of police killings compared to similar countries like England, Germany and Japan. Officers are rarely charged when they kill someone, and they don’t even have to participate in the investigations into their conduct.The Globe’s Nancy Macdonald spent months looking into hundreds of investigations into police officers, how often officers co-operate and the consequences of their silence.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On February 8, Indigo’s website went down and customers couldn’t buy products in-store either. After scrambling to launch a new website with limited e-commerce abilities, the company announced a major breach of personal and financial information of employees.The Globe and Mail’s technology reporter, Temur Durrani, has been speaking to employees about the life-long impacts of this breach, what is being done about it and why ransomware attackers are taking aim at Canadian companies and public institutions.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Artificial Intelligence and chatbots are having a mainstream moment. In November, the public was introduced to ChatGPT – a chatbot that can have seemingly human-like conversations with users. And after a “creepy” conversation between a New York Times tech columnist and Microsoft’s new Bing chatbot (which called itself “Sydney”) the debate around AI sentience has re-ignited.But, behind all the awe, argues AI researcher, author and data journalist, Meredith Broussard, is a model that’s simply really good at math – and the technology that powers our AI today can often be biased, sexist and racist. She’s on the show to talk about how we should all be thinking about these problems in a tech innovation that isn’t going away anytime soon.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Documents from Canada’s spy agency CSIS – viewed by The Globe and Mail – show how China was influencing Canada’s 2021 federal election by promoting candidates favourable to the regime, how it warned “friendly” Canadians about investigations and targeted Canadians with tactics like cyberattacks, bribery and sexual seduction.These documents highlight a troubling web of China’s interference in Canadian political, financial and academic institutions. Robert Fife, The Globe’s Ottawa bureau chief, explains why these documents matter and what we can learn about how China is trying to influence Canadian affairs.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In a special bonus episode, The Globe and Mail’s Senior International Correspondent Mark MacKinnon and Europe Correspondent Paul Waldie join The Decibel host Menaka Raman-Wilms for an in-depth conversation on the first anniversary of the war in Ukraine. Mark and Paul share their perspectives, personal stories and insights in a year of covering the war. This episode was recorded as a livestreamed broadcast on theglobeandmail.com and YouTube on February 24, 2023.

Since Russia invaded one year ago, eight million people have left Ukraine.Olena Tsebenko, Sonya and Oliver Hawes and George Fedorov all left behind their homes on February 24, 2022. From births to deaths and marriages, they share their stories of how their lives have carried on in the wake of the war.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

An unofficial border crossing between Southern Quebec and New York state is at the center of a heated political debate. In December, almost 5,000 people entered Canada through Roxham Road, a stretch of road between the two countries that has seen an influx of migrants seeking to claim refugee status in Canada.Both official opposition leader Pierre Poilievre and Quebec Premier Francois Legault are calling on Ottawa to close the unofficial border. On Tuesday Prime Minister Trudeau said he’s in talks with the U.S. but declined to get into specifics.The reason why people are choosing this particular route is because of a loophole in an agreement between Canada and the U.S. called the Safe Third Country Agreement. Globe and Mail columnist Konrad Yakabuski explains what this agreement is and what may happen with it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Title fraud happens when someone poses as a homeowner to sell real estate they don’t own to an unsuspecting buyer – and while still rare, it’s on the rise in Canada. For victims, whether the buyer or the legitimate homeowner, the anguish of learning you’ve been defrauded almost always comes with a lengthy legal process to straighten things out. And without title insurance, the buyer may be out the cost of the house.Salmaan Farooqui is the Globe’s personal finance reporter, and he’s explored why title fraud has gotten a boost thanks to the pandemic, despite all the paperwork and checks and balances built into the process of home-buying.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Just over a year after the federal government invoked the Emergencies Act, an inquiry has found that the Liberals acted appropriately, even though the Act gave them sweeping powers. This report – by Justice Paul Rouleau – marks the end of a commission that investigated the trucker convoy protest, the breakdown in policing and governing that lead to the Emergency Act being invoked.Political columnist John Ibbitson discusses the importance of this report for our democracy, the political winners and losers and what he hopes will be done with Justice Rouleau’s recommendations.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada’s national women’s soccer team is protesting unequal treatment by the sport’s governing body. The players say Canada Soccer is not transparent with its finances, and that they won’t agree to be paid less than the men. The men’s team supports them.On Thursday, the team was forced to play in the SheBelieves cup under threat of legal action. Federal MPs have noticed, and called for Canada Soccer to explain itself at a parliamentary committee.Rachel Brady is The Globe’s sports reporter, and she’ll tell us about the dispute, the growing business case for equally funding women’s sport, and how that’s fuelling professional women’s soccer in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Investing your money can grow your wealth faster than just saving it— or shrink it, if you put your money in stocks that fail, or have to withdraw your money from the market while it’s down.Erica Alini, the Globe’s personal finance reporter and author of the newsletter MoneySmart Bootcamp, shares her tips for how to think about investing wisely.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Tuesday, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and NDP MP Alistair MacGregor held a news conference about medical access to psilocybin – better known as magic mushrooms. The psychedelic is illegal in Canada but there’s increased interest in the potential therapeutic benefits of the drug.This is happening while still-illegal magic mushroom dispensaries have begun to pop up in Vancouver, Toronto and Ottawa. The Globe’s Mike Hager went to one, and explores the business behind magic mushrooms.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In the span of nine days, we’ve seen the takedown of four flying objects over North America by U.S. fighter jets. It has both Canada and the U.S. on high alert with speculation of Chinese spying. The White House has had to tamp down questions of whether aliens could be involved. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Trudeau says the search for debris in Yukon, where one of the objects was taken down is currently under way.The Globe’s senior parliamentary reporter, Steven Chase is on the show to tell us what we know so far about the mysterious flying objects and why all of a sudden, they’re being detected.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Fusion – the act of deriving energy by smashing atoms together – has long been the stuff of science fiction. But thanks to a recent scientific breakthrough, there has been an increase in public excitement that one day, we might be able to use this as a continuous, clean source of energy.The catch? We might not get the technology before our 2050 net-zero climate goals arrive.Science Reporter Ivan Semeniuk explains exactly how fusion works and the Canadian efforts that are working to take this theory and turn it into a viable and widespread energy source.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The federal government has offered to bring some Canadian children being held in detention camps in Syria to Canada – but their mothers can’t come with them. This is part of an ongoing issue for the government over what to do about men and women who are suspected of joining the Islamic State terrorist organization — and what to do with their children.The Globe’s Janice Dickson has been covering this issue since the Islamic State fell in 2019 and has spoken to one of the mothers facing this difficult decision.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ottawa announced Tuesday a proposed $46.2-billion injection in new federal health care funding for the provinces and territories.For years, there have been calls to reform Canada’s health care system. People have died in emergency rooms waiting for care, 15 percent of Canadians don’t have a regular health care provider and there are ongoing issues facing long term care.Will this new money help fix these systemic problems?Health reporter Kelly Grant asked leaders in health care what they make of the deal, and she’ll detangle what this money can and can’t do for our ailing healthcare system.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada is facing increasing calls to grow its critical mineral industry as the world pivots toward its net-zero goals and batteries are becoming increasingly important. But at the moment, Canada only has one functioning lithium mine and no refineries.Compare that to China, which dominates the entire critical mineral industry globally and has extensive reach into Canada’s current operations. So what can Canada do to get going? Mining reporter Niall McGee explains how Canada has found itself in this position.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A Canadian sniper, whose codename is Teflon, was set up in an apartment building in the destroyed city of Bakhmut, Ukraine, shooting waves of Russian soldiers. He says it was almost too easy: “I actually got to a point where I was like, can you stop? I’m tired of killing people ... I shouldn’t be killing people this easily.”Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, has seen heavy fighting for months because invading Russian forces see it as strategically important. The Globe’s Mark MacKinnon spoke with the sniper about his role in the war, and how the battle for Bakhmut has been playing out on the ground.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The federal government’s $30-billion pledge to bring daycare costs down to $10/day and to create 250,000 new spaces by 2026 isn’t only attracting families, it’s also getting attention from investors. As the government seeks to make more spaces, for-profit centres are quickly expanding to meet targets.The Globe’s Dave McGinn, and The Globe’s independent business reporter, Chris Hannay, explain the appeal and why child care advocates are concerned.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Wednesday, Dominic Barton appeared before a parliamentary committee looking into the rise in outsourcing contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company, where Barton was formerly global managing partner. Barton was also a senior policy adviser to the Trudeau government and the Canadian ambassador to China.Since 2015, the Liberal government has paid more than $116 million dollars to the private management consulting firm. That’s more than thirty times what the Conservative government before them paid over their ten years in office.Bill Curry is the Globe’s Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief and has been following this story for years.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As of this week, possession of 2.5 grams of some drugs in B.C. is decriminalized. The B.C. government says it is trying to reduce the number of people who die from overdoses in the province. Around six people die every day in B.C. from drugs – but many advocates don’t believe this decriminalization program will actually prevent people from dying.Garth Mullins is an organizer with the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, and host of the podcast Crackdown. He’ll tell us about B.C.’s plan, about the impact criminalization has had on him and people he knows, and what he thinks would lead to fewer people dying from drugs.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

John de Ruiter, a spiritual leader known for his piercing stare and who calls himself the ‘embodiment of truth’ was arrested and charged with four counts of sexual assault earlier this month. He’s now out on bail and intends to fight the charges.De Ruiter is a leader of a multimillion dollar organization called The College of Integrated Philosophy. It’s based in Edmonton but has followers all over the world. Some have described the group as a cult.The Globe’s Jana Pruden has been investigating the group for years. She has spoken to former members and attended a meeting to learn more about de Ruiter’s teachings. She’s on the show to explain what she’s learned about this tight-knit community and what these charges could mean for its future.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Monday, Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc. extended a deadline to mid-February that would finalize the largest telecommunications takeover in Canadian history. The deal would see Rogers buy Shaw for $20-billion. In an already concentrated industry, Canada’s Competition Bureau has argued that the deal would be bad for consumers who already pay some of the highest cell phone bills in the world.Telecom reporter, Alexandra Posadzki explains the implications of this deal and why, even though it has cleared significant legal hurdles, Canada’s Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne won’t rush his signoff.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Liberal government brought in Bill C-21 last May that would ban certain firearms. Amendments to the legislation have only confused the matter – some types of guns are banned in some of those amendments, but not in others – and the Liberals’ lack of communication is frustrating people on all sides of the issue.The Globe’s senior political reporter Marieke Walsh tells us why these changes have been made to the legislation, why the government has been so quiet on it, and how likely this legislation is to work in reducing gun violence.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

A year after tens of thousands of people descended on Ottawa, some in their big-rig trucks, a lot has changed. Border restrictions have been lifted. Same for vaccine passports and most masking requirements. But the alienation and anger that lay underneath the movement seems to remain.Ottawa reporter Shannon Proudfoot discusses what some of the participants of the convoy think about it now, and whether another version of this protest could pop up again.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

To cope with the rising interest rates and higher-than-normal inflation in the economy, many tech companies are changing how they do business, focusing on turning a profit over growing revenue or market share.Technology reporter Sean Silcoff explains why for many years, forgoing profit was a good bet for startups, why that focus has led to mass layoffs in today’s shakier economic reality, and how some companies are thriving in these tough times.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The residents of Rouyn-Noranda, QC have known about the arsenic emissions coming from the local smelting plant for years. More studies are coming out about health concerns for the residents – but Glencore, the company that owns the plant, is still allowed to emit significantly more arsenic than the rest of the province.The Globe’s Eric Andrew-Gee went to Rouyn-Noranda and spoke with residents about the impact of these emissions and why it’s been allowed to go on for decades.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ukraine wants tanks – 300 of them to be precise. President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that western battle tanks could be the key to driving Russian troops out of his country. But the allies, including Canada, are still deliberating on whether they should send them.Steven Chase has been covering the developments on this aspect of the war for The Globe. He explains why Canada alone can’t make the decision to send Ukraine our Leopard-2 tanks and why allies are worried this might be the escalation that provokes a Russian backlash.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In Canada, the criminal code allows for physical discipline of children, in certain circumstances. For almost half a century, advocates have been fighting to repeal the law, saying it violates children’s rights. Seventeen bills have been introduced in Parliament trying to strike the law down – and all of them have died before they could change the criminal code.Now, two bills trying once again are before Parliament. The Globe’s Marsha McLeod explains why the law exists, and the vocal groups who’ve fought to keep it on the books.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced this week his government is increasing the use of private clinics for procedures like cataracts, diagnostic imaging and eventually hip and knee replacements. The move sparked a lot of criticism – but Ford says he’s following the lead of other provinces like B.C., Alberta and Quebec that are already doing something similar.First, we’ll talk to The Globe’s provincial politics reporter Jeff Gray about Ontario’s plan. Then, we’ll talk to The Globe’s B.C. reporter Mike Hager about how that strategy is working in other provinces, and why B.C. is now moving away from private health care.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Over 7-million Venezuelans have left their homes since 2017, when Nicholas Maduro seized power and the state started to collapse. Most refugees have tried to start anew in nearby countries, like Colombia, Peru and Ecuador. But an increasing number are headed north on a dangerous trek that will take them to U.S.’s southern border. It’s a journey that is hugely shaped by policy decisions being made continents away.Kerli Vasquez and her family are on this journey and met Doug Saunders, the Globe’s international affairs columnist, on the road. Doug tells us about the years they’ve spent trying to re-establish themselves in multiple different countries, and are now en route to try and reach the U.S.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Tuesday, Canada’s new guidelines for drinking and health were released from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction (CCSA). The guidelines say that three to six standard drinks put you at a moderate health risk— and you might be surprised by how much counts as a “standard drink.”Dr. Catherine Paradis is a sociologist and the interim associate director of research at the CCSA. She’s back on the show addressing some of the questions listeners had after hearing her back in September, and outlining why she thinks labeling alcohol will help Canadians make more informed choices when drinking.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The economic forecast for 2023 is … less than rosy. Inflation is still running high. Central banks may continue to raise interest rates. And what everyone wants to know is: How long will this last before rates are lowered again?Globe and Mail columnist Tim Kiladze says you can look back in history to get some clues. And they suggest that an investor’s best asset for the next while might be patiences.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The holiday travel period was incredibly tumultuous – with passengers stranded, bags lost and thousands of flights cancelled. The airlines say the winter storms caused unprecedented disruptions, but The Globe’s transportation reporter Eric Atkins says the problems go beyond that.He tells us the other factors that led to this chaos, how airlines are responding, and whether this is likely to happen again. (Spoiler: It is.)Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Israel’s new far-right government is looking to overhaul the country’s justice system – going so far as seeking to create a law that would allow parliament to override the Supreme Court. If the changes happen, it could have implications on rights for the LGBTQ community, asylum seekers and also exacerbate tensions with the Palestinians.Josef Federman is the News Director of the Associated Press for Israel, the Palestinian territories and Jordan. He explains why this is happening now and what these proposals signal about the direction the country is headed.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There’s a growing demand for food waste apps from both shoppers and grocers. They’ve been touted as a new way for people to score deals as food prices rise, while cutting back on food being thrown out by retailers.Susan Krashinsky Robertson is The Globe and Mail’s retailing reporter and she explains who uses these apps and what evidence there is that they actually help in getting food to people instead of it heading to the landfill.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The XBB 1.5 variant of COVID is quickly becoming the dominant strain in the US, and we’re seeing more cases here in Canada too. The WHO has called it the most transmissible variant of the virus we’ve seen so far.Some people are calling it ‘The Kraken.’ But not Dr. Angela Rasmussen. She’s a virologist at VIDO, the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization at the University of Saskatchewan, and she’ll walk us through what we know about this variant, what we don’t know, and how concerned we should be.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canada’s facing a stressed health care system, persistent inflation and a fraught geopolitical scene.Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne looks at the big issues that will likely be facing the federal government in 2023 and what this means for leaders Justin Trudeau, Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh, and the possibility of a federal election.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Shopify began this year announcing to its workers that meetings of more than two employees were banned. Slack channels that were not work-related – the online equivalent of a water cooler and its associated chit-chat – had been deleted.Those changes, along with last year’s sweeping layoffs and the company’s new product offerings, are part of an attempt to bring Shopify back to its glory days, just a few years ago. In 2020, Shopify became the most valuable company in Canada, but that’s no longer the case. In 2022, it lost two-thirds of its stock value.Technology reporter Temur Durrani tells us what went wrong, what Shopify is trying to do about it, and how the tech sector is suffering from uncertain times.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

2022 was a pretty turbulent year financially, with sky-high inflation, interest rates and housing prices. So you might be looking at the coming year and thinking about how to protect your finances against whatever 2023 might bring.The Globe’s personal finance reporter, Erica Alini, recently wrote a MoneySmart Bootcamp newsletter to help people get a better handle on their money. Today, we talk to her about how to disaster-proof your finances and discuss budgeting, saving and debt.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Since China abandoned its COVID-zero policies, the country has seen a dramatic outbreak of infections. But exactly how bad things are remains murky, as contradictory reports of cases and deaths emerge.But other countries are reacting nonetheless; Canada and others have put new travel restrictions on people arriving from China. There are fears that the rate of infection and the size of China’s population could make things dramatically worse. The Globe’s Asia Correspondent, James Griffiths, explains.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ozempic and other semaglutide drugs have been hailed as a very effective treatment for obesity, but shortages, affordability and doctors’ willingness to prescribe it are still keeping people who might benefit from it off the drug.Health reporter Carly Weeks explains how the drug works and how it may force our society to rethink how we perceive obesity.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Some animals survive harsh winter conditions by completely freezing and thawing in spring, like the wood frog. Researchers are looking to harness these abilities for humans – particularly for organ transplants.Shannon Tessier is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and an investigator at the Center for Engineering in Medicine and Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. She tells us how animals freeze over and how it might be harnessed for organ transplants.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com.

What started as a protest against vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers turned into a catch-all occupation of pent-up pandemic grievances. By the time it was over, hundreds of people were arrested, Ottawa’s police chief resigned, and the Emergencies Act had been invoked for the first time ever.Today, we look back at how this story dominated headlines throughout the year, from the first rumblings in January to the hot tubs and honking in February, the 21-year-old who won against the convoy in court, to the testimony from the Prime Minister in the fall.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As part of our picks of the top stories of 2022, we are re-airing this episode about a woman documenting the destruction of the war in Ukraine. This episode originally aired on March 2.Maria Avdeeva is the research director of the European Expert Association, which analyzes Russian disinformation. With the sound of Russia’s attack in the background, Maria explains what’s happening in her hometown of Kharkiv, and why the decision to stay is her way of fighting the “Information War,” where disinformation is weaponized to change how the world understands the horrors unfolding in Ukraine.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As part of our picks of the top stories of 2022, we are re-airing this episode on the Pope’s visit to Canada and the Doctrine of Discovery, which originally aired on July 25.Many Indigenous people would like the Pope to publicly renounce the Doctrine of Discovery. Bruce McIvor is one of them. He is a lawyer, a historian and the author of Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It. He explains what this doctrine is, how it went from a papal edict to a legal principle in Canada and why renouncing it would be a meaningful action for the Pope to take on his July visit to Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As part of our picks of the top stories of 2022, we are re-airing this episode on inflation, which originally aired on April 20.With inflation eating into people’s bank accounts, some people are starting to wonder: Hey, is my paycheque shrinking? And according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, it is.Economics reporter Matt Lundy explains how inflation is resulting in a pay cut for most Canadians and what – if anything – you can do about it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As part of our picks of the top stories of 2022, we are re-airing this episode about one of the top songs of the year. This episode originally aired on January 24.There are two kinds of people in this world: those who have ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ stuck in their head, and those who don’t … yet. The Disney song is a viral sensation and unexpected hit from the 2021 film Encanto.Michael Birenbaum Quintero is an ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor at Boston University. Even he agrees it’s a catchy tune, and explores its musical influences along with the movie’s wider representation of Colombian and Latin American music and culture.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ranging from childhood phone calls, to serenading strangers, to feasting on the darkest day of the year, we explore how traditions help connect us and celebrate the season.To end the year, we wanted to take a break from the endless cycle of bad news and share with you a series of stories about holiday traditions.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington on Wednesday. It’s his first known time outside of Ukraine since Russia invaded more than 300 days ago. He’s meeting with President Joe Biden, national security officials and addressing Congress. It’s a bid to shore up more weapons and money in order to fight the ongoing war.The meeting comes at a time where Russian aerial attacks on Ukraine are ramping up. The main targets are power grids, which is leaving many in the country in the dark and cold for hours. The Globe’s European Bureau Chief, Eric Reguly is on the show from Kyiv.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Newcomers are turning to YouTube to learn about everyday life in places like Moncton NB, Kamloops B.C. or Swift Current, Sask. Canada’s goal of bringing in 500,000 new permanent residents every year by 2025 has a focus on settling new immigrants in small towns and different regions of the country – Instead of just the big city centres – and 2021 census data shows that shift is already happening.So YouTube channels made by recent immigrants are helping those who arrive after them learn about where to get groceries, what kind of winter coat they need and even what people are like in a particular town. The Globe’s Dakshana Bascaramurty talked to some of these YouTubers.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Sunday evening, five residents of a high-rise condo building in Vaughan, ON were shot and killed. A 73-year-old gunman was also shot and killed by police. Court documents reveal that the shooter had a years-long history of legal disputes with the condo board. Police said three of the people killed were members of the board.The Globe’s Dustin Cook tells us what we know so far about what happened and the gunman’s history with the condo board.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com.

In the community of Gaultois, Newfoundland, an upcoming vote will determine whether to keep receiving government services, or take a payout to relocate to the mainland, leaving behind their homes and dramatic beauty of their small island town.Greg Mercer, the Globe’s Atlantic Canada reporter, tells us about the history of resettlement in Newfoundland, and how the people of Gaultois feel about deciding the town’s fate.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $800-million in funding for Indigenous-led conservation efforts at COP15, the biodiversity conference happening in Montreal. The Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area and national park is considered a success story in Indigenous-led conservation. It was established in 2019 after decades of discussion and negotiation between the federal and territorial governments and the local Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation.Addie Jonasson was part of those negotiations. She tells us why this park is so important to the local wildlife, and its significance to the Indigenous peoples, and how this park could serve as an example for conservation efforts in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday. U.S. prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy. He’s now in a Bahamian prison and could be extradited to the U.S. The company was founded in 2019 and went from being worth US$32-billion to bankrupt in mid-November.Along the way, FTX built up a lot of hype and attracted a lot of investments worldwide. That included support from both Kevin O’Leary and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, which invested US$95-million in the company. The Globe’s technology reporter, Temur Durrani, explains what he learned about how the fear of missing out got so many to buy in.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Neil Doef was 17 when his life changed. As a promising young hockey player, he was competing at an international tournament when he was paralyzed. For the last seven years, he has been engaged in a lawsuit trying to get financial help from Hockey Canada and its insurer.Grant Robertson, senior writer for The Globe and Mail, shares Neil’s story and addresses the questions Neil’s case raises about how Hockey Canada decides to use money from its National Equity Fund.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

With its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, Artemis 1 marked the successful completion of the first step in a new era of space travel to the moon. It comes 50 years after the last astronaut bounced along the lunar surface.Now, the goal is to make moon travel more routine and sustainable. Science reporter Ivan Semeniuk explains how NASA hopes to do this in the next decade, along with help from international partners like Canada, and what hurdles it’ll have to overcome to make the entire Artemis program as successful as its predecessor Apollo.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Myanmar has been in a state of chaos since February 2021 when the military staged a coup following a democratic election. Thousands of people have been killed in this civil war, and the UN estimates that around a million people have been displaced in the country.Siegfried Modola, a photojournalist and documentary photographer, spent weeks inside Myanmar for the Globe traveling with one of the rebel forces. That gave him a rare look into what’s going on in the country, the state of the civil war and what it means for the population.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Healthcare systems across the country are under strain yet again, and this time children seem to be bearing the worst of the combination of influenza, RSV, and COVID-19. Health officials would like people to voluntarily mask to help stop the spread, but people across Canada seem to have given up on them.Dr. Kim Lavoie is a psychologist at UQAM, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Medicine, and co-director of the Montreal Behavioural Medicine Centre. She’s on the show to explain why people just aren’t masking the way they used to.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The federal government paid $4.6-billion in COVID-19 benefits to ineligible recipients, and another $27.4-billion of payouts should be investigated to see if they met the program’s eligibility. That’s according to an Auditor-General report released on Tuesday. It says that while Ottawa did a good job quickly delivering money to Canadians, they’re doing a poor job identifying who needs to pay the money back.The Globe’s deputy Ottawa bureau chief Bill Curry explains what we know about where the money went, and why billions of dollars are at risk of going uncollected.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Canadians have already seen the cost of groceries grow by over 10 per cent this year, and costs are expected to keep rising. A bag of the humble romaine lettuce can cost as much as $13. Now, experts are projecting that food costs for the average Canadian family will go up by $1,000 in 2023.This week, the Committee of Agriculture held a hearing with representatives from major grocery retailers to discuss why prices are so high right now. Food reporter Ann Hui breaks down what we learned about the confluence of factors that are making grocery bills so hefty.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Two years ago, Helen Naslund was sentenced to eighteen years in prison for killing her husband, Miles, in 2011. They married young, in the early 1980s – he was twenty, and she was seventeen. He abused her and their three children for decades.Today on the Decibel, Globe feature writer Jana Pruden shares Helen’s story and unpacks how the justice system treats women who have been abused.For help with controlling behaviour or intimate partner violence, call the Assaulted Women’s Helpline at 1-866-863-0511. In Quebec, call SOS violence conjugale at 1-800-363-9010.Watch for The Globe’s podcast series about Helen Naslund’s story, coming in 2023. Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Joseph Boyden. Michelle Latimer. Carrie Bourassa. There has been a growing list of people who are accused of pretending to be Indigenous.Jean Teillet is a lawyer who was commissioned by the University of Saskatchewan to write a report about the issue of Indigenous identity fraud and to determine how postsecondary institutions can identify fraudulent applicants.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Tuesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith introduced her sovereignty act, the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, which would give her cabinet powers to not enforce federal legislation, policies or programs it deems harmful to Alberta’s interests. Smith has referred to the proposed law as a shield against Ottawa.Today, we’re hearing from Alberta and Ottawa. Alanna Smith, a Globe reporter in Calgary, explains how this bill would work and what it means in Alberta. The Globe’s writer-at-large John Ibbitson discusses how Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other federal officials might respond.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The office vacancy rates in two of Canada’s biggest cities – Toronto and Vancouver – have more than doubled since before the pandemic.The Globe’s real estate reporter, Rachelle Younglai, explains what is driving that trend and which companies are feeling the strain of managing physical offices in a world of hybrid work.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Protesters in China are blaming zero-COVID policies for the deaths of 10 people in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi. Demonstrations erupted in dozens of cities around the country, including in Shanghai and the capital Beijing.While protests do happen in China – despite the country’s reputation for absolute control – the way unrest spread online is remarkable given China’s internet firewall that censors dissent.The Globe’s Asia Correspondent, James Griffiths is the author of The Great Firewall of China. He tells us how these protests are evading the censors, what the government is doing in response and what these demonstrations mean for zero-COVID policies in the country moving forward.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The federal government plans to bring in 500,000 immigrants per year by 2025 – but only around 200,000 housing units are being built per year. With a cost-of-living crisis, sky-high housing demand and struggling health care systems, immigrants are often left struggling to settle here in Canada.Matt Lundy, economics reporter with The Globe’s Report on Business, explains what these challenges mean for people who have recently arrived in Canada, and how the federal government plans on tackling them.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s five-hour testimony wrapped up the final day of Emergencies Act inquiry.Mr. Trudeau faced questions about his decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in February, 2022 in response to the so-called trucker convoy protests which had taken over a part of downtown Ottawa, and had blockaded border crossings in Windsor, Ontario and Coutts, Alberta.Guest host Sherrill Sutherland and parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh breaks down Trudeau’s testimony and other top moments from the inquiry.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In March, Canada will expand medically assisted dying to people with mental illness as a sole condition. This will make the country’s euthanasia law one of the most liberal in the world – just seven years after assisted dying first became legal.A parliamentary committee has been hearing from experts since April about what needs to happen to make the right to die safe for all Canadians, and The Globe’s Erin Anderssen has been following the emotionally charged testimony.If you are having thoughts of suicide, call Kids Help Phone at 1-800-668-6868 or Crisis Service Canada at 1-833-456-4566, or visit crisisservicescanada.ca.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Cancer patients are facing lengthy wait times to see a doctor and get treated in British Columbia. These delays are not only stressful for the patient, they allow the disease to grow and become more complicated.This is a massive change from a few decades ago when B.C. was seen as a leader in cancer care. Globe and Mail reporter Andrea Woo explains how these delays got so bad.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com.

With World Cup host country Qatar getting bad press for its treatment of migrant workers, its stance on LGBTQ rights and its strict regulations on alcohol, it’s hard to imagine that it has a lot to gain from hosting this event.But as the Globe’s Asia correspondent James Grifiths tells us from Doha, Qatar has already seen its relationship with other Gulf nations improve because of the World Cup, and the event might still be an important pivot in the country’s economy.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Danielle Smith harshly criticized health officials’ response to the pandemic in Alberta during her campaign to become premier – and she promised to change things. She’s now making major changes to health care in the province, firing the entire board of Alberta Health Services and replacing it with a single administrator.Kelly Cryderman, reporter and columnist with The Globe’s Calgary bureau, says Smith is trying to strike a delicate balance – keeping the promises she made while trying to show the rest of the province that she is moderate enough to govern all of Alberta.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The year was 2021. And former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney had a dream. In Glasgow, he announced that wanted to bring together the world’s financial institutions to help solve climate change. It was called GFANZ – the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero and since it’s launch that year, it has grown to include more than 500 members that manage $150-trillion in assets.But just ahead of this year’s COP27 in Egypt, the alliance started to crack. Report on Business reporter and columnist Jeffrey Jones explains why some banks are worried that Mark Carney’s GFANZ group might cause them legal headaches.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Rupi Kaur is one of the most famous poets in the world. When she was just 21, she self-published her first collection of poetry, Milk and Honey. She’s written two more collections since, and her books have sold over 11 million copies.Rupi is on the show to talk about how it all started, managing mental health in the pandemic and why she thinks other people should start writing.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As RSV, influenza and COVID circulate, health care systems that were already strained are struggling even more. Children’s hospitals in particular are seeing a surge of patients with RSV, and departments are overloaded. As doctors expect this season of respiratory viruses to continue, many are asking provincial health officials to bring back mask mandates – which so far hasn’t happened.You – our listeners – have questions about this respiratory virus season. Dr. Leighanne Parkes, an infectious disease specialist and microbiologist with the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, is here to answer them.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Two weeks after a peace agreement between Ethiopia and Tigray was reached, humanitarian aid finally started to arrive in the Tigrayan region on Tuesday. It’s the first sign that Ethiopia’s blockade, cutting off food, medicine and communications, is ending. The brutal two-year-long civil war has led to the death of as many 600,000 people.The Globe and Mail’s Africa Bureau Chief, Geoffrey York explains why this deal is so desperately needed, how the arrival of aid is a step in the right direction and why a number of factors still exist that could threaten its implementation.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Globe’s Mark MacKinnon was in Kherson this weekend while residents celebrated Ukraine regaining control of the city from Russia’s invading forces. They had been under Russian occupation since the beginning of March, just days into the war, and life has been difficult.Mark tells us about what he has been hearing from people and what this latest loss for Russia means for the broader conflict.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Sam Bankman-Fried was seen by many as the golden boy of the cryptocurrency world. He was the CEO of major crypto exchange FTX, which at its peak was worth US$32-billion. He was known to hobnob with celebrities and work with Washington on the thorny issues of regulating crypto.But both his company and his reputation crumbled this week. Now people who had deposited their digital assets and cash on FTX are having issues getting their money back and investors in the platform have had to write off their investments as zero. Report on Business editor Ethan Lou explains the latest catastrophe in this very bad year for cryptocurrency.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

At the global climate conference COP27, a major discussion is a loss and damage fund. The idea is that wealthier countries that contributed more to climate change would put money towards a fund that poorer countries could use to recover after climate-induced disasters like hurricanes, floods or droughts.But countries like the Bahamas are already feeling the impacts of climate change. Climate scientist and tropical storm expert Marjahn Finlayson tells us how climate change is affecting her home, and what responsibility countries like Canada have to help.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Republicans were expected to dominate the midterm elections, but the anticipated ‘red wave’ did not pan out. Democrats did better than expected and some of that is being attributed to the support for abortion rights across the country. NBC News exit polls report that the largest number of people said inflation was the deciding issue for their vote – with abortion coming in a close second.Rosemary Westwood is a public health reporter in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the host of a podcast called Banned, about the battle over abortion rights in the deep south. She explains what happened at the midterms and what it means for the future of abortion rights in the U.S.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In an abrupt reversal, Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised to repeal the legislation that revoked the right to strike for educational workers in the province. That wrapped up the walkout by CUPE members after two days.But negotiations between this union – and others – continue with the province and so questions remain in terms of how both parties will find a way out of this dispute without another work stoppage. Jeff Gray is one of The Globe’s correspondents at the Ontario legislature and he explains what factored into the swift change of events.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The RCMP are now investigating after a report from human rights organization Safeguard Defenders identified 54 so-called Chinese police “service stations” set up in 30 countries around the world – including three right here in Canada.China says the stations are set up to assist Chinese nationals with things like renewing drivers’ licences. But Laura Harth, the campaign director for Safeguard Defenders, says the stations are part of an effort by the Chinese government to make Chinese people return that includes surveillance, intimidation tactics and harassing family back home.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Florida has brought in several policies recently that critics say target LGBTQ people, like the controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which prevents teachers from telling kids in Grade 3 or younger about sexual orientation or gender identity. Similar policies are being taken up across the US.Brandon Wolf is with the LGBTQ civil rights group Equality Florida. He tells us about the impact of the “Don’t Say Gay” law, and what it means when so many Republican candidates for the upcoming midterms are using at a model for what they’ll do in their home states.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The labour dispute between educational workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government has escalated this week. The union issued its strike notice on Sunday and the government responded with back-to-work legislation that included the controversial notwithstanding clause on Monday.Talks broke down on Thursday afternoon after the mediator decided the two sides were still too far apart. The union has decided to proceed with a protest that the province’s legislation has made illegal. The Globe’s future of work reporter Vanmala Subramaniam explains why many union leaders across the country are keeping a close eye on what happens next.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

This week, the Emergencies Act inquiry is hearing from convoy leaders who took over Ottawa’s downtown core earlier this year while they were protesting vaccine mandates. On Wednesday, a lawyer who represented key convoy organizers during the protests told the inquiry that organizers received leaked information from police.Parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh tells us what else we’ve learned from convoy leaders who have testified so far.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Neuroscientists are trying to figure out how the COVID virus, SARS-COV-2, is affecting the brain. Many people who have gotten COVID end up having lingering cognitive impairments of some kind, whether that’s brain fog, forgetting vocabulary, difficulty remembering or general sluggishness in trying to think.Dr. Adrian Owen, who has a PhD in cognitive assessments in brain disorders, is a professor of neuroscience and imaging at Western University. His recent study looked at what kinds of cognitive issues people face and how it’s impacting them.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There are a surprising number of Canadians involved in far-right politics in the U.S. Think Jordan Peterson, Steven Crowder, Gavin McInnes, Lauren Southern.So why are there so many? And why do Americans care about what a group of Canadians have to say? International correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe discusses the power of Canadian commentators in America’s far-right movement.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Electronic monitoring of employees has been going on for years, but it’s seen a serious boost during the pandemic. It can consist of tracking anything from location, online activity status, keyboard and mouse movements, URLs – some even take photos of employees from their computer cameras and take screenshots to ensure they are working. Ontario has legislation that now makes it mandatory for companies with more than 25 people to tell employees how they’re monitoring them and why.Nita Chhinzer, professor in the department of management at the University of Guelph, explains the extent of this kind of monitoring in Canada, and how this Ontario law might change things.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

New census data from Statistics Canada shows that immigrants now represent 23 per cent of the Canadian population, a new high. But these numbers only tell half the story. The challenges that immigrants face in getting into the country are numerous and complex.Dakshana Bascaramurty digs into the new numbers and explains why some people will risk their lives to move to North America.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Bank of Canada announced a 0.5 percentage point rate hike on Wednesday. It’s the sixth consecutive increase in the past year alone. These increases have made borrowing more expensive and saving more difficult for Canadians.With all this economic uncertainty, The Decibel hosted a conversation live on Twitter with three personal finance experts to talk about how young people should prepare to weather this storm. Rob Carrick, Erica Alina and Melissa Leong talk mortgages, savings and their key piece of personal finance advice for young people who may be feeling anxious.You can listen to the full Twitter space conversation here.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Indigenous people are over-represented in Canada’s federal prisons. One in three men in federal prisons identify as Indigenous, and the number is 50 per cent for women prisoners.Officials have long said that healing lodges – minimum-security rehabilitation centres for Indigenous people – work, but there are only 10 in Canada. And while politicians pledge to build more, they haven’t in recent years. Reporter Patrick White discusses what’s behind the delay.Join host Menaka Raman-Wilms for a conversation live on Twitter this Wednesday, October 26th, at 2pm ET. She’ll be chatting with the Globe’s personal finance reporter Erica Alini, Globe columnist Rob Carrick and money expert Melissa Leong about the latest interest rate hike from the Bank of Canada and what it means for young people’s money. We’ll cover rent, saving, debt and investing with practical tips you can use.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Rishi Sunak is set to become the UK’s next Prime Minister. This comes after Liz Truss resigned from the job after a tumultuous six weeks. Truss is the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British history. Now, Sunak must try to repair the very shaky economic situation that the country currently finds itself in.Tom Rachman is a novelist and contributing columnist for The Globe based in London. He tells us why he thinks the problems in the UK all stem back to Brexit, about the mess Rishi Sunak is set to take on and what he could possibly do to fix the British economy.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

It’s been a month since post-tropical storm Fiona slammed into Atlantic Canada, causing huge amounts of devastation. In Prince Edward Island, thousands of trees came down, houses were destroyed, and people remained without power for weeks. Amidst a labour shortage, recovery efforts in the province are moving slowly.The Globe’s Greg Mercer visited PEI recently and spoke to people picking up the pieces after Fiona about what comes next.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

An anti-loitering noise device under a bridge in the small city of Oshawa, Ontario was put there by municipal officials to dissuade unhoused people from setting up camp. It’s raised questions about how cities should be dealing with homelessness at a time when housing is more out of reach than ever.With municipal voting day coming on Monday across Ontario, Marcus Gee discusses the politics of addressing homelessness.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The public inquiry into whether the use of the Emergencies Act to stop protests in Ottawa this past winter was justified is under way. On Wednesday, we learned that the city of Ottawa and police were warned in advance that the trucker convoy protest was well-resourced and determined to remain on site until COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. But Ottawa police reportedly didn’t receive these warnings from the provincial police.Parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh joins us to tell us what else we’ve learned in the first week of hearings.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In the span of two weeks, Russia has launched two major drone attacks on Ukraine. Scores of so-called “kamikaze drones,” purchased from Iran, have been attacking Ukrainian civilians and devastating power and water infrastructure.Dr. Stacie Pettyjohn is a senior fellow and director of the defence program at the Center for a New American Security. She’s back on the show to tell us how these drones work and what air defence systems from allies might do to help Ukraine.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Finding a suspect based on their DNA alone used to be almost impossible: police could only search DNA databases of people who’d already committed crimes and been convicted. But the increase in popularity of online genealogy and DNA databases are changing what’s possible.The Globe’s Colin Freeze has spoken to Canadian detectives who are using the same technique that caught the Golden State Killer to solve cold case crimes here in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

If you’ve bought something online recently, you’ve probably seen a payment option to spread out the purchase in installments. This is known as Buy Now, Pay Later and it’s popping up all over Canada with companies like Amazon, Adidas, Samsung and Sleep Country. But why is it all over the place all of a sudden?Finance reporter and columnist Tim Kiladze looked into it, and he explains where it came from, how it affects credit, and how it encourages people to spend more money.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Next week, China’s ruling Communist Party is expected to announce an unprecedented third term for its leader, Xi Jinping. Mr. Xi has consolidated his power over the last decade, cracking down on billionaires, movie stars and businesses seen as going against party ideology.Asia correspondent James Griffiths tells us about Mr. Xi’s vision for China and what his grip on the country means for the future of their economy.

There’s an experiment under way on the roadways around the Greater Toronto Area. Loblaw Companies Ltd. has partnered with autonomous vehicle company Gatik and is using five driverless delivery trucks to ship products around. And since August, they haven’t had a human ‘safety driver’ on board.The Globe and Mail’s retail reporter Susan Krashinsky Robertson discusses how the technology for these driverless trucks works, why Loblaw is investing in the technology and what this means for shoppers and the grocery industry in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Tuesday, the CEO of Hockey Canada, Scott Smith, left the organization and the entire board of directors resigned. The organization has been embroiled in controversy for months over its handling of sexual assaults, specifically the fact that Hockey Canada used funds – paid in part by registration fees – to settle sexual assault claims.Globe and Mail columnist Gary Mason has been writing on this for months. He explains the culture problem he sees at Hockey Canada and in hockey more generally, and what it might take to fix it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.comEditor’s Note: An earlier version of these show notes stated that Scott Smith had resigned.

The company that owns Facebook might be in trouble. Meta’s stock has plunged nearly 60 per cent this year, Facebook has been losing active users, existing users are consistently complaining about the company’s other social media platform Instagram, and fresh upstarts with their own apps are gobbling up the public’s attention.As Meta executives pour billions of dollars into the virtual reality world they call the Metaverse, The Globe’s technology reporter Temur Durrani explains the problems within Facebook, what they say about the state of social media more broadly, and what social media might look like in the future.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Adaptable, smart and invasive. No we’re not talking about humans. We’re talking about wild boars. With their populations growing and sightings – even around big metropolitan areas – increasing, governments are rushing to find ways to contain them before they wreak ecological and agricultural damage.Jana G. Pruden, a feature writer for The Globe and Mail, discusses what kind of damage these creatures can do and why letting hunters lose on them is not the answer.This episode originally aired July 4, 2022.

In the second quarter of 2022 housing affordability in Canada saw its “worst deterioration” in more than 40 years. At the same time, rents across the country are skyrocketing. For young adults between the ages of 25-29, that means living on your own is more out of reach than ever – even if you’ve graduated from university and have a full-time job.Personal finance reporter, Erica Alini crunched the numbers to get a snapshot of just how expensive it is for young adults trying to find a place to live right now.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Ukrainian military has made substantial advancements in two regions of the country in the past few days. Those gains come as Russian President Vladimir Putin formalizes his annexation of four regions of Ukraine, where young male residents live in fear that they might be conscripted into the Russian army.The Globe’s Janice Dickson is in Kyiv and has been travelling to different regions of the country for the past two weeks. She tells us how people in the annexed territories are feeling, and what the new advancements could mean for the ongoing war.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Liz Truss’s ‘mini budget’ didn’t get a mini reaction. The plan, which initially included a cut in personal income tax for the top earners, sent markets into a panic and sent the pound plummeting to near parity with the U.S. dollar — something that hasn’t happened since the mid-1980s.But why did the markets react that way to a budget? And what was Truss trying to do in the first place? Lucille Perreault is a researcher at the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, and she specializes in taxes. She explains the economics at work and what Canada can learn from the fallout.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

After a meteoric rise, the value of NFTs plummeted. But here’s the weird thing: that’s when people started stealing them. In the span of a year, one report pegs the total theft at US $100 million.The Globe’s Rita Trichur is on the show to tell us how people are being scammed out of the NFTs they paid so much for. And don’t worry, we’ll explain what an NFT is, too.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

We wanted to find out from you, our listeners, what you’re thinking about COVID-19 – especially as restrictions are disappearing and new vaccines are available.Infectious disease specialist, Dr. Lisa Barrett is on the show to answer the COVID-19 questions you have right now, like: When you get sick, is there any way to tell if it’s COVID-19 or the flu or a cold? How long should you isolate if you have COVID-19? What’s the right time frame to get a bivalent vaccine – and what does bivalent mean?Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

It’s become something of a rallying cry to move reconciliation forward, repeated from British Columbia to Ontario to New Brunswick. But what exactly does “land back” mean? Bruce McIvor has written extensively on the struggles people face when trying to make a legal case for the return of their traditional lands — not least because he’s represented  some of them. He’s a partner at First Peoples Law, and the author of Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Quebec is the one province where immigration is a ballot-box issue in provincial elections. In 2018, it was one of the deciding factors that gave François Legault of the Coalition Avenir Québec his win.Now, the major parties are vowing to set different limits on how many permanent residents the province can let in without compromising its French identity. Meanwhile, its labour force is in decline and businesses are calling on provincial leaders to bring in more immigrants to help fill open jobs. Globe and Mail columnist Konrad Yakabuski unpacks the immigration debate in Quebec.

Russia has one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world, and Russian President Vladimir Putin and those in his inner circle have threatened to use nuclear weapons if Russian territory is threatened. Similar comments have been made before, but many experts are looking at these threats differently in light of the so-called referendums taking place across four regions of Ukraine.Cheryl Rofer worked for more than 30 years as a nuclear scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Now, she writes about national security and about the war in Ukraine. She’ll explain what kind of nuclear weapons Russia has, and what it would mean if Putin decides to use them.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Protests are spreading across Iran – and the world – after the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. Mahsa was picked up by Iran’s morality police on Sept. 13 for allegedly not wearing the proper hijab. Three days later, she was dead. People have taken to the streets demanding justice for Mahsa, and, more broadly, justice for women living under Iran’s strict hijab laws.Jasmin Ramsey is the deputy director of the Center for Human Rights in Iran. She tells us why this incident has caused so much outrage, what Canada and other international communities are doing in response and whether change to the Iranian regime will come from these mass demonstrations.

In September 1969, two baby girls were born in a tiny hospital in rural Newfoundland, a few hours apart. A simple accident led to both of their lives being changed forever.Over 50 years later, the truth serendipitously revealed itself and their lives changed again. Freelance journalist Lindsay Jones unravels the mystery of how these two women were switched at birth.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin called up 300,000 reservists in a partial mobilization for the war in Ukraine. That sparked protests in several cities in Russia, and a flood of people trying to leave the country. This is happening just before referendums are set to take place in four regions of Ukraine currently occupied by Russia – and many suspect Putin will use the referendums to claim the regions as Russian territory and further escalate the war.The Globe’s senior foreign correspondent Mark MacKinnon is back on The Decibel to explain what is happening in Russia right now, what the repercussions of Putin’s escalation might be, and what it means for the broader conflict.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Inflation is on the decline for the second straight month. New numbers from Statistics Canada show that inflation slowed to 7 per cent in August – down from 7.6 per cent in July and 8.1 per cent in June. While these numbers point to an easing in prices for consumers, not everything is cheaper – yet.Economics columnist for The Globe’s Report on Business, David Parkinson tells us what items are getting less expensive, why groceries are still so high and whether what the Bank of Canada is doing to tamp down inflation is working.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In the final days of a chaotic government effort to rescue people from the Taliban last summer, Senator Marilou McPhedran and one of her staff members sent travel documents to a family attempting to flee Afghanistan. The documents, called facilitation letters, were supposed to help the Afghans bypass checkpoints that had been set up around Kabul’s airport, so they could catch one of the last evacuation flights out of the country. A year later, the people who received those documents are still stuck in Afghanistan. And the Canadian government has at last explained why: the facilitation letters they received from the senator and her office were not authentic, and the people named on them had not been approved to come to Canada.The Globe’s Marieke Walsh explains what happened, how government officials are responding, and what this means for the people still stuck in Afghanistan.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

In March, Ontario became the last jurisdiction in Canada to sign on to the national Early Learning and Child Care Agreement. The $30-billion commitment by the federal government aims at bringing down the cost of daycare to an average of $10 per day by 2026. While all provinces and territories are working out the kinks of their rebate programs, Ontario’s rollout has been particularly plagued by delays and confusion.The Globe’s Dave McGinn has been following the child care agreement and its rollout across the country. He tells us which jurisdictions are doing well according to child care advocates and why Ontario is falling behind. Plus, we hear from parents about their experiences trying to navigate the system.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Oct. 1, natural gas bills in the U.K. will go up by 80 per cent. Most households rely on natural gas for heat, and this means their energy bills would increase from an average of £1,971 to £3,549 a year. For one third of people in the country, that would mean falling to below the poverty line. The new Prime Minister Liz Truss’s plan is to cap energy bills and pay the difference to energy companies, but estimates say the plan could cost more than £100-billion.Europe correspondent Paul Waldie tells us what this crisis means for the people and businesses in the U.K. and what’s being done to fix it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Initially, residents of James Smith Cree Nation did not want to welcome the reporters into their community following the mass stabbing attack that left 10 people dead on September 4, 2022. But after suspect Myles Sanderson died in police custody, things changed.Globe reporter Nancy Macdonald was allowed into the community and she worked with colleague Jana G. Pruden to help construct a better understanding of what happened prior to the tragedy. Jana explains what they’ve discovered from their reporting and how members of the First Nation are finding ways to move forward.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

After months of fighting the Russian invasion, Ukraine has gained significant ground in Kharkiv Oblast, a province in the northeast of the country. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said this week that they have retaken more than 6,000 square kilometres in September.The Globe’s senior foreign correspondent Mark MacKinnon spoke with a commander of a special forces unit that was integral in this counteroffensive, and he visited some of the places newly liberated from Russian control.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

There seem to be a lot of serious storms these days, and those storms are causing more and more damage. The storm that hit southern Ontario in May claimed the lives of at least 10 people, and caused millions of dollars worth of damage.The storms we are seeing in Canada are changing – but not how you might expect. David Sills, a severe storms specialist and executive director of the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University, explains what changes he’s seeing in storms, how prepared we are to handle the damage from them, and the connection one of these storms has to a producer here at The Decibel.

While Canada’s overall inflation is ticking down, the cost of food continues to rise. Inflation for groceries rose in July to 9.9 per cent.Lisa Noonan and Filomena Bilotta are both administrators of the Canadian Savings group on Facebook, where they teach the 100,000+ members how to fight back against inflation in the grocery store. They explain how you can push back against your ever-rising grocery bill.

In case you missed it: listen to Menaka’s conversation with columnists Robyn Urback and John Ibbitson about the Conservative Party’s new leader, Pierre Poilievre. They explore what Poilievre’s win says about the Conservative party, what Poilievre stands for and how other federal parties will have to respond to counter his popularity.This is a recording of a live event broadcast on Twitter Spaces on Monday, September 12.

Plasma is a critical part of some medicines but Canada currently only gets 15 per cent of its supply from Canadians. That means we’re dependent on the paid-plasma international market for 85 per cent of it. So to secure a domestic supply, the Canadian Blood Services has reversed course on its historic position of only administering a voluntary donation system and signed a deal with for-profit Spanish company Grifols, who will collect Canadian plasma by paying people. Report on Business reporter Chris Hannay explains the controversial partnership.

The Conservative Party of Canada will announce a new leader on Saturday evening. This comes after more than half a year of campaigning. Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis and Pierre Poilievre were all competing for the job, but it’s widely expected that Pierre Poilievre will win the race.The Globe’s writer-at-large and longtime political columnist, John Ibbitson explains why Mr. Poilievre is the favourite to win, what it signals for the future of the Conservative Party and the broader implications to Canadian politics.

Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday at the age of 96. She was on the throne for 70 years, making her the longest-reigning British monarch in history. Her rule was marked by modernizing the monarchy, increased philanthropy, timeless fashion and the occasional joke.While the Queen was widely beloved, the popularity of the monarchy has been waning here in Canada and elsewhere. Vicky Mochama, royals writer and contributor to The Globe, tells us about the Queen’s life and legacy, and how we might reckon with the monarchy now that she is gone.

A federal law banning single-sports betting was reversed last year through Bill C-218, leading to a proliferation of sports betting companies operating in Canada – along with an explosion in sports betting ads on social media, billboards, and in televised sports games.Ben Mussett looked into how this change comes at a time when other countries, like the U.K., have decided to curb sports betting advertising because of concerns about addiction and problem gambling.

Two days after a stabbing rampage in Saskatchewan, police are still looking for Myles Sanderson, who, along with his brother Damien, are suspected of killing 10 people and injuring 18 others. On Monday the RCMP confirmed that Damien Sanderson was found dead.The attacks happened in 13 different locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby town of Weldon. The Globe’s Alanna Smith visits the communities and tells us about the attacks, the possible motive behind them and how the community is responding to the tragedy.The Hope for Wellness Help Line is available to all Indigenous people across Canada at 1-855-242-3310. Orchat online at hopeforwellness.ca 24/7 in English, French, and upon request in Cree, Ojibway and Inuktitut

As of Aug. 15, nearly 170,000 study permit applications were pending with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Although plans have been made to get many of these students to the start of their classes on time, many might have to be kept waiting.Will Tao is an immigration lawyer based in British Columbia who focuses on international student study permits. He tells us why we’re seeing so much delay in processing these permits and how the system often leaves applicants from the global south behind.

If we want great cities, people from all walks of life need to be able to live in them. But even with experts predicting that rising interest rates will drive national housing prices down by as much as 23 per cent by the end of this year, most of us would still consider those adjusted prices totally unaffordable. While most of the housing crisis  conversation has centered on supply — just build build build — there’s a lot more going on that’s causing the problem. In our last episode of the season, Adrian talks to three experts about other housing crisis factors that don’t always get the spotlight. Guests for this episode are Andy Yan, an urban planner and director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program; Naama Blonder, a Toronto-based architect and urban planner with Smart Density and  Rachelle Younglai, The Globe’s real estate reporter.

If you have three or more alcoholic drinks in a week, you’re putting your health at risk. That’s according to a new report from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction (CCSA). The government of Canada’s current recommendations are more than a decade old. Armed with new information from almost 6,000 studies, the CCSA is proposing an update to Canada’s low-risk drinking guidelines.Dr. Catherine Paradis is the interim associate director of research at the CCSA. She’s also the co-chair of this new report. She tells us what we’ve learned about how alcohol impacts our health, the new guidelines the CCSA hopes Canadians will follow and why they want mandatory portion labels on alcoholic drinks.

Kelp has traditionally been harvested for food, but we’re discovering other new ways we could be using kelp as well … like in packaging, to replace plastics, or even in animal feed to reduce the methane released by cows.National correspondent Wendy Stueck went out on a kelp harvest, and tells us why kelp farming could help coastal communities’ green economies, and be used as an innovative and sustainable new material.

As of Sept. 1, sugar sweetened beverages like pops, iced teas and energy drinks in Newfoundland and Labrador will be a bit more expensive. The province is bringing in a sugar tax, and it is controversial. The government says the goal is to make its residents healthier, as the province has some of the highest rates of diabetes and obesity in the country. Opponents say that the tax will only impact the poorest in the province or won’t make a substantial difference.Dr. Yann Le Bodo is a research fellow with the French School of Public Health, and he’s part of an international consortium of researchers looking into whether sugar taxes are effective or not. He tells us what the research is saying about sugar taxes and whether they actually lead to a healthier population.

An explosion rocked downtown Wheatley, Ontario last year, injuring 20 people, destroying property and terrifying residents and shaking buildings kilometres away. The cause is assumed to be an “orphan” natural gas well tucked away near a building’s basement, one of many thousands left behind after the last 150 years of oil and gas drilling in Ontario.And while not all orphan wells have been uncovered, the building’s owner had been sounding the alarm about the noxious, highly-flammable gas leaking out of this one for months.Globe energy reporter Emma Graney tells us about what went wrong in Wheatley, and why experts tell her another explosion like it is “all but guaranteed.”Read more on The Globe’s investigation here.

Your boss wants you back in the office, but after two years of remote work, you’re not sure you want to go. Whether you measure the cost in time or money, going back to work can be pricey. Many Canadians have grown to love their work from home lifestyle, and they’re eager to keep it. In the first episode of our new season, we hear from a 20-something who’s job-hunting because his employer is asking employers to return to the office two to three days a week. We also hear from a manager in her early 40s on why she decided to close her office for good. Plus, The Globe’s future of work reporter Vanmala Subramaniam speaks with Roma to discuss changes in the workplace and what to expect going forward.

In April, the federal government announced that it would expand Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program to allow employers to hire even more low-wage workers from abroad. The move is designed to help ease some of the labour shortages in a number of sectors.Advocates for migrant workers argue that the TFW program allows employers to exploit migrant workers because the person’s employment is tied to a work permit. There have been complaints about low wages, bad living conditions and dangerous work.The Globe’s future of work reporter Vanmala Subramaniam tells us about what the program is and why it’s expanding. Plus, we’ll hear from former migrant worker-turned-advocate Gabriel Allahdua about what it was like to work this type of job and why he’s advocating for migrant workers to have a pathway toward permanent residency.

When Hudson’s Bay Company announced last week that it’s bringing back the discount store Zellers, people flocked to social media to share their memories of Zeddy the mascot, of the Zeller’s diner, and the Zeddy ride. HBC is hoping that nostalgia translates into foot traffic and dollars. The company is trying to modernize and stay relevant in a climate where department stores are shuttering.The Globe’s retail reporter, Susan Krashinsky Robertson, is here to tell us about this move to bring back Zellers, how else Hudson’s Bay Company is trying to offload millions of square feet of real estate and what the market looks like for Zellers now that the discount market has become even more competitive.

Germany’s energy crisis could worsen as temperatures dip and Russia threatens to cut off the pipeline delivering natural gas to the country. So German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has come to Canada for a three-day visit, expected to end in a green energy deal signed by both Scholz and Prime Minister Trudeau in Stephenville, Newfoundland on Tuesday.Claudia Scholz, a business reporter at Germany’s business daily Handelsblatt visiting the Globe on a Burns Fellowship, sets up why Germany hasn’t been able to make more energy at home, why we’re talking about exporting hydrogen – and not natural gas – and why they’ve come all the way to Canada to get help for Germany’s energy crisis.

Dr. Alika Lafontaine is the Canadian Medical Association’s new president, and an anesthesiologist. He takes on the job at a time when emergency rooms are buckling across the country. Nurse shortages are persisting. Backlogs are still jamming up hospitals. And the pandemic hasn’t relented.So now politicians are scrambling to figure out ways to quickly fortify health care systems that have been cut back for years. Privatizing parts of the system is a part of the conversation in some areas, like in Ontario. But Dr. Lafontaine is skeptical that this is the answer.

Most people buy homes with their partners or by themselves. But others are ditching the traditional paradigm. Today, we’re talking about unconventional homebuyers: family members, friends and others that team up to get into the property market. We hear from two sisters who are trying to buy a house together – and who are struggling to get into the market even after joining forces. Plus, Roma speaks with Leah Zlatkin, a mortgage broker at Mortgage Outlet and expert at LowestRates.ca, about what you should know before buying a home with others and why legal agreements are critical for those considering buying as a group. 

A study from the University of Copenhagen looked at billions of records taken from sleep-tracking wristbands across 68 countries suggests that people are already losing 44 hours of sleep a year because of hot nights. And with record-breaking temperatures happening more frequently because of climate change, Kelton Minor, lead author of the study, tells us the extent of this problem, who is most affected by it, and why it’s so important for people to get a good night’s sleep.

Recent visits to Taiwan by U.S. House Rep. Nancy Pelosi and a delegation of five U.S. lawmakers earlier this week have set the stage for rising tensions in the Taiwan strait.Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and sees U.S. visits as encouragement for Taiwan’s pro-independence movement. But there’s a crucial industry on the self-governing island critical to both China, the U.S. and the entire global economy. Taiwan makes 90 per cent of the world’s advanced semiconductors. The hyper-miniscule components are used in everything from your phone, computer, car and even military fighter jets. So important is Taiwan’s involvement in the industry that some argue it could even deter a war.The Globe’s Asia correspondent James Griffiths is on the show to talk about how Taiwan came to dominate the industry and why it’s crucial to the delicate geopolitical situation today.

You’re never far from a parasite, no matter where you are. They’re responsible for illnesses like malaria that cause death around much of the world; the word itself is a derogatory term for something freeloading and disgusting.They’re also very important to the health of ecosystems.Parasite ecologist and University of Washington associate professor Chelsea Wood makes her case for parasite conservation, and why they’re actually beautiful, complex forms of life that need to be protected.

The CEOs of the 100 largest Canadian companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange saw their compensation go up 23 per cent in 2021. Some chief executives took home pay packages that were valued around in the tens of millions of dollars or more.So how do boards of these publicly-traded companies decide on these huge sums? And what do the shareholders of these companies think of it all? David Milstead, The Globe’s Institutional Investment reporter, takes us inside the complex world of executive pay.

Today we're bringing you an episode of City Space, a Globe and Mail podcast about how to make our cities better, hosted by Adrian Lee.Cities are filled with seemingly endless options when it comes to food. But we’re also increasingly disconnected from what we eat and how it makes its way to our plate. In this episode, we’re taking a look at how the pandemic has given us the opportunity to rethink our relationship with food, both in terms of the restaurant industry and farmed food that fills our fridge. Adrian speaks to Corey Mintz, a food writer and critic about his new book The Next Supper: The End of Restaurants As We Knew Them, and What Comes After. Corey shares how the pandemic has changed the restaurant industry, from tipping to labour demand, and what diners should think about next time they eat out. Plus, we hear from Carolyn Steel, architect and author of Sitopia: How Food Can Save the World. Carolyn shares how cities have lost some of their essential connections to the food that fuels their citizens, and what we can do about it.

With so many ups and downs in headlines and our personal lives, what often brings us together is food. Food has a way of supporting, nurturing and healing. To explore the depths of how food connects us, we cook with chef and author Suzanne Barr.Barr teaches us how to make her famous Caribbean curry chicken and reflects on how the dish that’s so close to her heart helped launch her cooking career, celebrate her Jamaican culture and encourage more women to take charge in professional kitchens. We hope you not only learn a new recipe, but also how a meal can shape your home and history.It’s Food Week here at The Decibel. We take a special look at what keeps us alive – and, some say, makes life worth living. We’ll look at food from different angles, from the ethics of eating so-called ‘smart animals’, to how the war in Ukraine showed us the fragility of our food system, to the business of potatoes. Plus, we’ll take you into the kitchen to cook something delicious.Let us know what you think by emailing us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com.

Potatoes! They’re affordable, accessible, ultra-versatile, and most importantly, delicious. But a case of potato warts found on two farms in Prince Edward Island last November has wreaked havoc on the local potato economy. The wart led the Canadian government to restrict exports of all P.E.I. potatoes to the U.S. for months. Even though potato warts aren’t unsafe to eat, over 300 million pounds of potatoes were destroyed.Adrian Lee is a content editor at the Globe and Mail’s Opinion section, and has come to consider the economic and cultural importance of the spud.It’s Food Week here at The Decibel. We take a special look at what keeps us alive – and, some say, makes life worth living. We’ll look at food from different angles, from the ethics of eating so-called ‘smart animals’, to how the war in Ukraine showed us the fragility of our food system, to the business of potatoes. Plus, we’ll take you into the kitchen to cook something delicious.Let us know what you think by emailing us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com.

In the past two years alone, the number of severely food insecure people doubled to 276 million, according to the UN, because of issues like inflation and supply chain problems related to the invasion of Ukraine.Evan Fraser, professor of geography and director of the Arrell Food Institute at the University of Guelph, continues to stay optimistic despite a global food system long plagued with wealth inequality, political instability and the ongoing climate crisis. He tells us how more people can be fed through changes in policies, green innovations in agriculture and other changes to how we farm food.It’s Food Week here at The Decibel. We take a special look at what keeps us alive – and, some say, makes life worth living. We’ll look at food from different angles, from the ethics of eating so-called ‘smart animals’, to how the war in Ukraine showed us the fragility of our food system, to the business of potatoes. Plus, we’ll take you into the kitchen to cook something delicious.Let us know what you think by emailing us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com.Correction: An earlier version misspelled the name of the Institute where Dr. Fraser is director. We regret the error.

As the global demand for octopus meat rises, a company in Spain is set to open the world’s first ever octopus farm. But scientists and philosophers warn that it would be a mistake to farm these clever cephalopods. By opening the farm, they say, we’d be opening the door to consequences we may not yet even conceive of.Erin Anderssen, a feature writer for the Globe, joins us to talk about what makes the octopus such a compelling character, and why learning about them has challenged the way she thinks about eating meat.This is the first episode of Food Week here at The Decibel. A special look at what keeps us alive – and, some say, makes life worth living. We’ll look at food from different angles, from the ethics of eating so-called ‘smart animals’, to how the war in Ukraine showed us the fragility of our food system, to the business of potatoes. Plus, we’ll take you into the kitchen to cook something delicious.Let us know what you think by emailing us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com.

With e-commerce largely replacing brick-and-mortar stores, how we shop is having real, physical effects on how our cities work. So in this episode, we’re looking at all things retail: As consumers, have we become addicted to convenience? How are businesses able to offer us even quicker delivery times than ever before, sometimes within even 15 minutes – and what is that doing to our main streets? What is the “last mile,” and why is it so important for making sure we’re taking care of the environment? Adrian speaks to Josué Velázquez Martínez, the director of the MIT Sustainable Supply Chain Lab, about the ins and outs of how products get to where they need to be – and why e-commerce, if done more thoughtfully, could actually be better for our planet. Plus, we hear from Alex Bitterman, a professor and the chair of Architecture and Design at Alfred State University of New York, about the rise of “dark stores”: private warehouses in the heart of our cities that allow for extra-speedy delivery times, while simultaneously threatening to snuff out our main streets.

Monkeypox cases are climbing worldwide. In July, the World Health Organization declared the virus a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” And in Canada, as of Aug. 3, there are almost 900 cases, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada. With this worrying news, many people have questions.The Decibel put a callout on social media to find out what our listeners wanted to know about the disease. To get answers, we asked The Globe and Mail’s health reporter, Wency Leung, who’s been following the outbreak closely. She walks us through what we know so far – including the severity of the disease, who it’s affecting, and the availability of vaccines today.

New GDP numbers in the U.S. have set off the latest set of worries about whether we’re heading for a recession, even if Canada’s numbers aren’t that bad.Globe and Mail journalist David Parkinson has been covering business and financial markets for more than three decades. He explains how recessions are defined, which economic indicators we should be watching and just how worried people should be.

This year alone, rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Canada went up almost 14 per cent on average – and many rental markets, like Calgary or Guelph, Ont. are even hotter. Experts point to those priced out of buying a home thanks to inflation, and university students finally able to resume class on campus during the pandemic. All of this creates the perfect environment for scammers to swoop in.Globe reporter Patrick Egwu, who almost fell victim to a rental scam himself, tells us how these scams work and what to look out for when looking for a place.

Today we're bringing you an episode of Stress Test, a Globe and Mail podcast about personal finance, hosted by Rob Carrick and Roma Luciw.We’re talking retirement – why it’s changing, and how to plan for it. We hear from Vicky (25), Irina (34) and Brent (36), who each have different visions of retirement and what they’re doing – or not doing – to plan for it right now. Plus, Rob speaks with Shannon Lee Simmons, a Toronto-based certified financial planner whose core clients are millennials and Gen Z, about shifting views of retirement and how you can best prepare.

Hockey Canada told federal hearings Wednesday that it has paid $8.9 million since 1989 to settle 21 cases of alleged sexual assault, with the bulk of that money, $7.6 million, coming from a special fund built through registration fees that wasn’t disclosed to parents and players.Grant Robertson’s investigation into the National Equity Fund exposed it publicly, and thanks to two days of parliamentary hearings, we now know a lot more. Grant explains how this fund functions and how it allowed Hockey Canada to keep quiet allegations of a group sexual assault for years.

Canada is getting heat for granting a Montreal company an exemption from Russian sanctions. The company fixes turbines used in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which supplies natural gas from Russia to Germany.Ukraine is not happy with Canada, saying that granting this exemption sets a “dangerous precedent” that will only “strengthen Moscow’s sense of impunity”. But Germany pushed hard for this decision because the pipeline in question supplies more than 50 per cent of the country’s natural gas. Meanwhile, Russia has been reducing gas flow to Europe which is sending the country deeper into an energy crisis.The Globe’s parliamentary reporter Steven Chase explains what the sanction controversy is all about and how Canada is involved, why Canada sided with Germany and what that means for the war in Ukraine.

The bond market moves three times as much money as the stock market. But it’s boring. The “sure thing” with a steady if modest return and low risk. So we hardly ever hear about it. But in this unprecedented economic era, where supply chain woes meet inflation and the threat of recession during a global pandemic, even the bond market has suffered.To demystify the world of bonds, The Globe’s feature writer Ian Brown is here. He speaks to us about how bonds work, how they play into today’s economy, and why the foundation they’re built on may be cracking.

It is largely anticipated that Pope Francis will deliver another apology to Indigenous people while in Canada this week. But are there actions he could take while here to further reconciliation?Many Indigenous people would like the Pope to publicly renounce the Doctrine of Discovery. Bruce McIvor is one of them. He is a lawyer, a historian and the author of Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and How to Fix It. He explains what this doctrine is, how it went from a papal edict to a legal principle in Canada and why renouncing it would be a meaningful action for the Pope to take while here.

Today we're bringing you an episode of Stress Test, a Globe and Mail podcast about personal finance, hosted by Rob Carrick and Roma Luciw.Gen Z and millennials are getting a lot of their money advice from TikTok, where personal finance videos have more than 5.8 billion views. In this episode, we look at why the social media platform is resonating, how to use it effectively and what advice you should be wary of on the app. We hear from a 25-year-old TikTok user from Mississauga, Ont., about how he started getting personal finance advice from the platform. Plus, Roma speaks to Ellyce Fulmore, aka @queerd.co, a TikTok content creator from Calgary, Alta. Ellyce, who identifies as queer and neurodivergent, shares how her experience helps her create personal finance advice for audiences traditionally ignored by the financial industry.

The January 6 Committee hearings have shared several surprising revelations and explosive testimony over the last few months. To make sense of it all, we recap some stand out moments so far in the committee’s efforts to figure out exactly what happened when supporters of then-president Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol.Adrian Morrow is The Globe and Mail’s US correspondent. He’s on the show to share the most important things we’ve learned so far and what to expect now that the hearings are coming to an end.

On Friday, B.C.’s Court of Appeal upheld a lower court’s decision that access to medical care should be based on need and not the ability to pay. The court sided with the B.C. government’s argument that allowing private care would endanger the public system. For 13 years, orthopedic surgeon and president of Cambie Surgery, Brian Day has argued that patients should have the right to pay out-of-pocket for medically necessary care when wait times in the public system are too long. Even though the court disagreed, this case could still end up at the Supreme Court of Canada.Colleen Flood is the director of the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics and University Research Chair at the University of Ottawa. She’s on the show to talk about the implications of the case and what she thinks can be done to help with the long wait times Canadians are currently facing in the healthcare system.

More than two years after Canada’s worst mass shooting, we’ve finally heard from someone who was there at the start. Lisa Banfield, the shooter’s common-law spouse, spoke last Friday at the inquiry into how the RCMP handled the incident. She provided insight into what happened in April, 2020, and described a chilling portrait of intimate partner violence.The Globe’s Greg Mercer tells us about what Banfield witnessed, the shooter’s violent history, and why some of the victims’ families walked out during her testimony.

Sri Lanka is in crisis right now. After months of fuel, medicine and food shortages, protestors have taken to the streets – and the homes of the country’s leaders. The now-former Prime Minister’s house was set ablaze. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to Singapore, then resigned. Normally a good friend and funder of projects under his government, China’s government has gone silent as the former president lost the confidence of the country.But until now, China has spent billions investing in infrastructure projects in countries, including Sri Lanka, as part of its Belt and Road Initiative. The Globe’s Asia Correspondent James Griffiths says that China will be closely watching the unrest and will be evaluating whether Sri Lanka will stay within its sphere of influence.

Today we're bringing you an episode of City Space, a Globe and Mail podcast about how to make our cities better, hosted by Adrian Lee.Climate change isn’t just coming, it’s here. And cities are uniquely susceptible to its effects because of their population density and infrastructure. So how can they better prepare for the increasingly devastating impacts of the climate crisis? In this episode, we explore the concept of climate resilience — how prepared are cities to anticipate, prepare for and respond to natural disasters? We hear from Thaddeus Pawlowski, an urban designer, professor and managing director at the Center for Resilient Cities and Landscapes at Columbia University, who was on the ground helping New York City rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. Plus, Adrian speaks to Toronto’s former Chief Resilience Officer Elliott Cappell about how he helped Toronto develop a plan to deal with climate disasters and what gives him hope for our future.

The Bank of Canada raised the benchmark interest rate by one percentage point on Wednesday. The surprise move is the biggest hike since 1998. The aggressive increase is larger than economists were expecting. The goal is to cool inflation, which hit 7.7 per cent in May – the highest it’s been in almost four decades.The Globe’s Mark Rendell covers the Bank of Canada. He’s on the show to explain what the central bank is trying to accomplish with this hike, what it means for recession worries and if it will be enough to get inflation under control.

Things are not going well at airports around the world and Canada has taken a particularly bad turn. On Monday, 70 per cent of flights from Canada’s largest carrier Air Canada were delayed – the highest percentage in the world.Duncan Dee is a former Chief Operating Officer for Air Canada. He also worked on a panel that reviewed the Air Transportation Act in 2016, looking closely at what could be improved at Canada’s airports. He’s on the show to talk about what he thinks should be done immediately in order to help with delays and bottlenecks.

On Friday, Rogers’ cellphone and Internet surfaced suddenly stopped working, leaving almost 12 million Canadians disconnected. And it wasn’t just Rogers’ direct customers who were affected — Interac’s debit system for e-transfers and retail payments were out of commission for most of the day, and some emergency services lost their connection too.The Globe’s telecom reporter, Alexandra Posadzki, joins us to talk about what went wrong, how the outage could affect Rogers, and what the government’s response was in a meeting held Monday afternoon between telecom executives and François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

Two and a half years into the COVID-19 pandemic, we may be sick of talking about it – but COVID-19 is not through with us yet. Case counts are higher than the first two pandemic summers, and as staffing shortages become more and more common in hospitals, emergency departments are becoming overwhelmed. And yet; with mask mandates gone almost everywhere, few public health restrictions remain.Wency Leung, the Globe’s health reporter, is on the show to talk about why experts are calling for a return to indoor masking, and what we can expect from a new round of vaccines.

Today we're bringing you an episode of City Space, a Globe and Mail podcast about how to make our cities better, hosted by Adrian Lee.If you’re a white-collar worker, chances are your office setup looks different than it did before the pandemic. After our two-year-long global experiment with remote work, many employees say there’s lots to like about it, with a number of companies now offering hybrid workplaces. All that empty office space is going to have an effect on the rest of our cities. In this episode, Jennifer Barrett, a senior planner with The Canadian Urban Institute outlines three ways that vacant offices could affect our downtown cores and what she hopes will be our way forward. We take a look at what Calgary is doing – since it was dealing with a vacant-office crisis even before COVID-19 – with the help of The Globe’s deputy national editor for cities and real estate James Keller. Samantha Sannella, the managing director for strategic consulting at global commercial real estate firm Cushman and Wakefield, also joins us to talk about how Calgary’s revitalization plans for their downtown could inspire other Canadian cities, and whether plans to convert offices into housing are realistic. Finally, Reshma Saujani, the founder of Girls Who Code, explains why so many people want this office revolution in the first place, and how this represents an opportunity to shift away from the white, male-centric ways in which workplaces were originally designed.

On Tuesday, First Nations chiefs in the Assembly of First Nations voted against continuing the suspension of National Chief RoseAnne Archibald. Archibald was suspended on June 17, after being accused of bullying and harassment by staff, who she then accused of corruption.Niigaan Sinclair, professor and acting head of Indigenous studies at the University of Manitoba, explains the work of the AFN, how this situation has overshadowed that work, and what role the AFN has – and should have – in advocating for First Nations people.

Just 10 days after the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting where 22 people were killed, RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki allegedly pressed senior officers to publicly release information about the kinds of firearms that were used in the shooting. The reason? To help bolster Liberal gun legislation. The commissioner, the former public safety minister, and the Prime Minister all deny there was political interference – but a paper trail strongly suggests that someone is lying.Globe columnist, Andrew Coyne, is on the show to explain what happened, why it matters, and why Trudeau’s Liberals keep finding themselves in familiar hot water.

It’s often thought of as a disease from a bygone era, but in some parts of Canada, tuberculosis is still very much with us. When the hamlet of Pangnirtung experienced an outbreak last year, local health officials were left begging for help to bring in resources to the remote community.Kelly Grant, the Globe’s health reporter, is on the show to talk about the explosion of tuberculosis cases in Nunavut, how nurses begged the territorial government for help, and why delays might have resulted in preventable infections.

Adaptable, smart and invasive. No we’re not talking about humans. We’re talking about wild boars. With their populations growing and sightings – even around big metropolitan areas – increasing, governments are rushing to find ways to contain them before they wreak ecological and agricultural damage.Jana G. Pruden, a feature writer for The Globe and Mail, discusses what kind of damage these creatures can do and why letting hunters lose on them is not the answer.

Westview Centennial Secondary School in the northwest of Toronto is celebrating the graduating class of 2022. On Thursday, about 180 students are crossing the stage to get their diplomas. While this is a common rite of passage for teens across the country, these students had anything but a normal high school experience. The pandemic meant online learning, no sports, taking care of younger siblings and little in-person interaction with friends. Westview is also located in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood – one of the hardest hit by COVID-19.The Globe’s education reporter Caroline Alphonso is joined by Decibel producer Sherrill Sutherland as they spend a day at Westview to find out how they feel about graduating. They bring us some of their stories of triumph, struggle and hope which all made up their pandemic-era high school experience.

Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday, abortions were immediately outlawed in several states. But this week, the procedures were allowed to resume in Texas, Louisiana and Utah. While this is seen as a win for pro-choice advocates, these measures are only temporary. And, it’s only a matter of time before abortion will likely be illegal in more than half of U.S. states.Rosemary Westwood has been following the battle over abortion rights in the Southern U.S. for the past six years. She’s the host of Banned, a podcast about the Mississippi case that led to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She’s on the show to explain how the U.S. got to this point, the people behind the fight on both sides of the issue and what their plans are now that Roe v. Wade is gone.

A woman alleges she was sexually assaulted by eight Canadian Hockey League players in 2018. The public did not hear about this until 2022, after TSN broke the news that Hockey Canada settled a civil lawsuit with the woman. Now the government has cut off funding for the national organization until more details of their investigation are provided to a parliamentary committee.So, how is it that an alleged gang sexual assault was kept silent for that long? Taylor McKee is an assistant professor of Sports Management at Brock University, where he studies the intersection of sport and society, as well as the history of violence in hockey. He tells us how hockey has built a culture of secrecy and what that means for a sport deeply connected to Canadian identity.

The superstar K-pop group BTS announced recently that they are taking a temporary break as a group and pursuing individual projects. This moment was a big deal for their millions of fans worldwide, the company that brings in billions of dollars managing them and for South Korea, which considers its members cultural ambassadors for the country.Hannah Sung, co-founder of Media Girlfriends, host of the podcast At The End of the Day and BTS fan, explains what makes this group so popular and why they’re so influential.

Today, Pride celebrations in big cities include parades and parties which attract millions of participants around the world. But for many smaller cities and towns across Canada, public Pride events are relatively newer, smaller and sometimes hard-won.  Chelle Turingan is the co-director of the documentary Small Town Pride. They join us to talk about the joys and challenges queer folks face in small Canadian towns and how, despite it all, they manage to organize Pride events.

Feb. 14, 2022, marked the first time the government has had to invoke the Emergencies Act. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did so in response to the continuing trucker convoy protests. And in doing so, he also automatically launched a review into that decision.The committee looking into the government’s justification for using the Act is about to take a summer break, but in the last few months it has grilled a number of senior cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Senior Political Writer Campbell Clark looks at what we’ve learned so far and explains why this has been a frustrating exercise in democratic accountability.

Monkeypox, an endemic disease for a number of Central and West African countries, is having its largest outbreak outside of that region. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are over 2,500 cases of the disease in 37 countries. Canada’s share of that is 168, as of June 17th when numbers were last released by PHAC. Yap Boum from Doctors Without Borders tells us about monkeypox in Central and West Africa. Then Helen Branswell, senior writer at STAT News, whose beat is infectious diseases, updates us on how monkeypox’s spread is different in Europe and North America, and why the World Health Organization might label it a “public health emergency of international concern” at its meeting Thursday.

British journalist Dom Phillips and Brazilian Indigenous expert Bruno Pereira went missing in the Amazon on June 5. They are now confirmed dead and multiple people have been arrested. They both spent decades working in the area, reporting on and working with local Indigenous communities – work that many people in the country say has become more and more dangerous.Lucy Jordan, Brazil correspondent for Unearthed, knew Dom Phillips. She says that the area the two men were working in has become very dangerous. And Julio Lubianco, a journalist with LatAm Journalism Review, explains what this case says about the safety of journalists and activists in Brazil.

For many months now, people have been calling on the federal government to do something about skyrocketing prices. Last week, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland unveiled the Liberals’ plan to tackle inflation, which is now creeping up to nearly 7 per cent.But is it enough? And what tools does the federal government actually have to help correct prices in grocery stores and at the pump? Bill Curry, the Globe’s Deputy Ottawa Bureau Chief, explains the limits to the levers that the governing Liberals can pull on for this economic quandary.

Mykola Kuleba is the former children’s ombudsman of Ukraine and he’s now the head of an organization called Save Ukraine. He’s been co-ordinating evacuation missions all over the country – and right now, those are focused in the eastern region.He’ll tell us what that work looks like, and what kind of toll, being in the middle of a war zone, is taking on the country’s most vulnerable.

Cryptocurrencies have taken another dive this week. And this crash follows seven months of declines, even for the big names in the game. Bitcoin, for example, is down more than 60 per cent from its peak in November. And on Monday, a crypto trading platform froze all activity, further rupturing the price of a lot of digital currencies.Globe and Mail columnist Tim Kiladze explains why even with such a volatile sector that has constant ups and downs – this crash matters and what retail investors with money caught up in crypto should do.

They’re the front line in defending British Columbia from flooding – but no one can agree who’s responsible for them. Dikes, levees, whatever you want to call them, we need them. But there are over 100 in B.C. that are “orphaned” – and when the next flood comes, the people behind them could be in trouble.The Globe’s Justine Hunter toured one of these “orphan dikes” with flood-management engineer Tamsin Lyle. They discussed where these dikes came from, what needs to happen to fix them and what we risk if we do nothing.

Ontario’s proposed Highway 413 would cut through the habitat of several species at risk in the province. Critics are concerned it would harm local waterways as well, far beyond the actual highway itself, highlighting the ongoing push-and-pull between the federal and provincial governments across Canada, and between species protection and development.Science reporter Ivan Semeniuk is back to walk us through how this struggle is playing out around the proposed highway and what it says about Canada’s efforts to protect its biodiversity.

When it comes to the issue of salary gaps, some experts say one solution is to make salaries more transparent. In 2021, the federal government introduced new legislation that would do just that: the Employment Equity Act requires federally regulated companies to disclose salary data. June 1st was the deadline for employers to submit their first rounds of data.Erica Alini, the Globe’s personal finance reporter, joins us to break down how this legislation might impact salaries – even those not covered by the bill – and offers advice on how you can take this kind of data to your employer when it comes time to negotiate a raise.Correction: This episode had previously and mistakenly referred to the Pay Equity Act, rather than the Employment Equity Act.

Siphe November is one of the most talented ballet dancers of his generation. At just 23, he’s the National Ballet of Canada’s youngest principal dancer and only the second black principal dancer in the company’s 70-year history. His ballet technique, the passion he brings to his performances and his magnetic pull both on stage and off make him a worthy star. With his popularity on Instagram, his move into choreography where he weaves together different genres of dance, his rise in the ballet world signals an artform that’s evolving.Sherrill Sutherland is a producer on The Decibel and also a ballet fan. She talks to Siphe November about his latest role in the National Ballet’s production of Swan Lake, the importance of Black representation in ballet and where he wants to take his career and the artform in the future.

Last year, a heat dome in B.C. led to the deaths of 619 people. It’s the deadliest weather event in Canadian history. Temperatures rose to above 40 degrees and stayed high even at night. On Tuesday, the province’s coroner service released a report with recommendations to prevent deaths in the future.Frances Bula is a frequent Globe contributor who reports on urban issues in British Columbia. She’ll explain how the urban landscape contributes to the deaths, what’s being recommended to help cool B.C. buildings and what the rest of Canada can learn from it all.

Boris Johnson has been called the Teflon prime minister, because no scandal seems to stick to him. He has a long history of being at the centre of scandals, dating back to his time as a journalist when he was fired for fabricating a quote. As a politician, he’s been criticized for lying several times but he has somehow managed to get out of all of those unscathed.Globe’s Europe correspondent Paul Waldie is back to tell us about Johnson’s uncanny ability to skirt scandal and why this Partygate scandal he’s embroiled in now might be the thing that brings him down.

As we learn more about Canada’s worst mass shooting, the families of the people killed are so frustrated with how the inquiry’s going that they’ve started to boycott the proceedings. Senior RCMP officers have been spared cross-examination as they detail the series of missteps they made in April, 2020.The Globe’s Greg Mercer has been following the inquiry, and he tells us how the RCMP didn’t believe the reports they received from the public, lacked training in their own communications systems, and gave commands after having several drinks.

You may know Rollie Pemberton by his stage name, Cadence Weapon. He’s the Edmonton-born rapper, who won the Polaris Music Prize in 2021, is known for his music with a political bent. Though he’s long been a writer of poetry – he was Edmonton’s poet laureate in 2009 – he’s now adding a new title to his list of accomplishments: non-fiction writer.In his new book, Bedroom Rapper: Cadence Weapon on Hip-Hop, Resistance and Surviving the Music Industry, Pemberton charts his path through the music industry. He joins Globe Associate Arts editor Aruna Dutt for a conversation on creativity in the pandemic and emerging with a new album – and now a book – to live audiences.

Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976. Now, the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that it is unconstitutional for the state to jail someone for life with no reasonable hope for parole. That includes mass murderers, like the man who pled guilty to killing six worshippers at Quebec City mosque in 2017.The recent ruling has raised questions about where the rights of prisoners and victims’ families begin and end. Sean Fine, the Globe’s justice writer, discusses the court’s reasoning behind its unanimous – yet controversial – decision to strike down a 2011 tough-on-crime law brought forward under Stephen Harper’s government.

On Wednesday, a jury sided with actor, Johnny Depp in his defamation case against his ex-wife, Amber Heard. The verdict follows a six week-long trial (which aired live on Court TV) that captured the public’s attention. It spawned hashtags with billions of views on TikTok, memes and even a skit on Saturday Night Live.During the trial, intimate and often ugly allegations about Heard and Depp’s relationship were on full display. That included allegations of abuse – which both accused the other of doing.While this case became a media spectacle involving two celebrities, it also brought to light the very real issue of intimate partner violence. The Globe’s Robyn Doolittle has reported on sexual violence and gender discrimination since 2015 and she’s also written a book on #MeToo. She is joined by Nicole Bedera, a sociologist who researches sexual violence and how it relates to our society and culture. They discuss the implications of the case and what it means to the broader conversation about #MeToo and the issue of intimate partner violence.

On May 26, Canada’s Minister of Employment, work force Development and Disability Inclusion, Carla Qualtrough said the Liberal government plans to retable the Canada Disability Benefit before the end of June.Disability advocates had been calling on the federal government to table this bill since it was introduced last summer. The legislation would help support people living with disabilities and dealing with poverty. According to Statistics Canada, one in every four people with a disability are low income.Michelle Hewitt, the co-chair of Disability without Poverty, explains what supports are currently available to disabled Canadians, why this benefit is needed now, and the importance of including disabled voices in its creation.

Netflix recently reported their first loss of subscribers in over a decade. In the first quarter of 2022, 200,000 accounts left the company. That was just in the first quarter of this year – they’re forecasting a drop of 2-million more subscribers in the second quarter. Netflix is not alone. While streaming services and subscription services more broadly (like fitness apps, grocery delivery, and meal kits) saw a surge of consumers at the beginning of the pandemic, there are now signs of subscription fatigue.Mahdis Habibinia reported on the story for The Globe’s Report on Business. She explains why this fatigue is setting in, what companies are doing about it and why, even though many of us are overwhelmed with the amount of choice, subscription-based services are likely here to not only stay, but actually increase in number.

Today we decided to take a bit of a reprieve and head down to a park, very early in the morning, to hear the dawn chorus – the symphony of birdsong that happens at daybreak. Since the pandemic started, more and more people have taken up birding as a way to escape the day-to-day and engage with the natural world.Globe columnist Marcus Gee found that he too has been enjoying the relaxation that birding provides more since the pandemic started. He has also been honing his skills at identifying birds by song. This led him to ask: Why do birds sing at all?

It’s been one year since Tk’emlúps te Secwepemc First Nation announced they had found 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School.Dr. Kisha Supernant is one of the people at the forefront of the effort to look for unmarked graves. She’s a Métis archaeologist and chair of Unmarked Graves Working Group with the Canadian Archaeological Association. She explains how she does this work, what happens after potential graves are found, and what needs to happen next.

The United States is grappling with another mass shooting. At least 19 children and two adults were killed at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday. This marks the 27th school shooting and the 213th mass shooting this year in the U.S. The tragedy has set off another round of partisan arguments with each side blaming the other, leaving many with a sense of despair that these events will just keep on happening.Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Shribman tell us how America has come to find itself stuck in this intolerable position that has led to guns being the number one killer of Americans under the age of 20.

A new report from Human Rights Watch found that some online learning platforms are tracking children in ways they say actively or passively infringe on a child’s privacy rights. The trackers buried in a website or an app can monitor a kid’s keystrokes, searches and doodles, as well as their physical location using GPS.Hye Jung Han is a children’s rights and technology researcher, an advocate with Human Rights Watch, and lead researcher on this report. She’ll explain how the report on 164 online learning platforms endorsed or used by governments in 49 countries found out what data is being collected from kids in online learning platforms, and how it’s being used.

Journalist Connie Walker has been reporting on Indigenous stories for most of her career. From missing and murdered women to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, she has covered on some of the biggest stories in Canada in the last few decades. But it wasn’t until last year that she decided to look into her own family’s past. The urge to dig into her deceased father’s past appeared after her brother shared a story in the wake of the discovery of 215 unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School in B.C. Connie talks about the importance of healing through sharing the truths, what she found out about her own family’s secrets and her new podcast, Stolen: Surviving St. Michael’s.

As a bonus episode today, we're bringing you an episode of Stress Test, a podcast about personal finance from The Globe and Mail, hosted by Rob Carrick and Roma Luciw.Many millennials and Gen Z’s have done everything “right” - they’ve graduated, found good jobs, are paying off their debt and saving money. So why is it so hard to live the middle class lifestyle their parents and older peers had at their age? In this episode, we hear from Cody, a 33-year-old living in Hamilton, Ont., who is frustrated at not being able to achieve many of his financial and life goals despite being a fiscally responsible adult. Plus, Rob talks to Paul Kershaw, a professor at the University of British Columbia and founder of Generation Squeeze, a group that researches intergenerational fairness, about why many millennials feel like the middle class is dead.

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he will resign as leader of the United Conservative Party following the results of his leadership review. He received support from 51.4 per cent of party members. Carrie Tait, a Calgary-based reporter in The Globe’s Alberta bureau, explains that while a few frontrunners have emerged to replace Kenney, uniting the right in the province remains a difficult road. Read more about Alberta politics here.

On May 11, a prominent Palestinian-American journalist was shot and killed in the West Bank while reporting for Al Jazeera. Her name was Shireen Abu Akleh. She was widely respected for her work and had over 25 years of experience covering the region. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas blames Israel for her killing. Israel initially said Palestinian gunmen may have been responsible but now say it could have been errant Israeli fire. They are now calling for an investigation. Some fear a conclusive answer on who killed Shireen may never come.Josef Federman is the News Director of the Associated Press for Israel, Palestinian territories and Jordan. He’s on the show to explain what has been going on in Jenin, the city where Shireen Abu Akleh was reporting from when she died, what we know so far about who is responsible for her death and how the investigation is playing into an already heated conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

As this year’s deadly avian flu spreads from poultry to wild animals, there are reports of birds suffering from neurological symptoms, dropping dead from trees and twitching uncontrollably. Nearly two million birds have already died from the avian flu this year in Canada alone.Wildlife pathologist Dr. Brian Stevens joins us to explain how this strain is different, what experts are watching out for, and how to prevent further spread.

Global markets are not doing well. And people are losing a lot of money. Even big technology companies like Netflix are starting to suffer. Their stock is down by nearly 70 per cent this year. And that has some wondering … is the market bubble bursting (a pandemic pop) for real this time?Report on Business reporter and columnist Tim Kiladze is on the show to explain why there’s so much uncertainty, how inflation and interest rates are playing into it and why investors should prepare for more than a short-term market blip.

Universal health care is a point of pride for many Canadians, but the system has had flaws for decades. One big issue is getting in to see a doctor. The Commonwealth Fund estimated that 56 per cent of Canadians waited more than a month to see a specialist in 2016 or simply to get an appointment with a family doctor – if they even have one.Dr. Robert Bell has worked in healthcare for over 40 years, as an orthopedic surgeon, former CEO of University Health Network and as a former deputy health minister in Ontario. He’s on the show to tell us what he thinks needs to be done to make the health care system more accessible to Canadians.Plus, you can read more from the Globe’s Opinion series called Fixing Healthcare here.

Indigenous women are still being forcibly sterilized in Canada. That’s one thing that Sen. Yvonne Boyer wants Canadians to know. The senator, who is Métis herself and was formerly a nurse and a lawyer, has been fighting to raise awareness of this issue. She is also a part of the Standing Senate Committee on Human Rights that is currently examining the issue.Sen. Boyer discusses how her background inspired her to devote her life to ending forced sterilization procedures, how it’s part of the systemic racism Indigenous women face in Canada’s health care system and why addressing it is an important part of Canada’s reconciliation efforts.

Even 75 years after the Holocaust, anti-Semitic crimes are still happening in Canada. And their presence highlights why education is still important, and uncovering family history is a powerful way to learn about the past.The Globe’s western arts correspondent, Marsha Lederman, joins us to talk about her new book Kiss the Red Stairs and the responsibility she feels to share her family’s stories as the child of Holocaust survivors.

Several of the atrocities happening in the Ukraine war are being linked to a mercenary organization called the Wagner Group. The Kremlin-linked mercenaries have operated in countries in the Middle East and in Africa as well, and are often trailed by allegations of human rights abuses.Sean McFate, former mercenary and now senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, explains how this group operates, why mercenaries might become more common in the future and how Wagner members he speaks to feel about what they’re doing.

The podcast turns one year old today! And in our first year, a lot happened: Russia started a war in Ukraine, thousands of unmarked graves were found at some residential school sites in Canada, Justin Trudeau won another federal election, inflation became a very hot topic and the COVID-19 pandemic continued to spread, especially with the arrival of the Omicron variant.In today’s episode, we look back at some of the biggest stories from the last 365 days and give you updates on what’s happened since we first covered them.

Canada’s international airports have experienced major delays getting passengers on and off their flights, as people begin returning to air travel in numbers not seen since before the pandemic.The staff that get travellers through all those lines at the airport – security screening, customs, baggage drop-off – have not returned to the airport in enough numbers to stave off long lines. Transportation reporter Eric Atkins explains why you won’t want to cut it fine if you’re boarding a plane in the near future.

A couple weeks ago, The Globe and Mail’s senior foreign correspondent Mark MacKinnon found out he’s now banned from entering Russia. He joins a long list of Canadians who can no longer enter the country, like our Prime Minister, basically every member of Parliament, and some Canadian mayors.This is part of a tit-for-tat between Russia and Western countries like Canada, after the West imposed sanctions on hundreds of Kremlin-affiliated people and organizations. Many of the Canadians who are part of this Russian list are proud of it, or laughing it off. MacKinnon is not.

In the wake of the news that the U.S. Supreme Court has drafted a ruling that would reverse Roe v. Wade, effectively ending safe and legal abortion in some states, some abortion advocates in Canada are sounding the alarm. But just how accessible are abortion services in Canada?Martha Paynter is the author of Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada, and a registered nurse working in Nova Scotia. She explains what changes have occurred recently when it comes to abortions in Canada and what barriers still remain.

The Ontario provincial election campaign is officially underway and election day is June 2nd. The campaign promises have been coming in thick: $1 per ride transportation from the Ontario Liberals, new highways from the Progressive Conservatives, and hiring more nurses and personal support workers from the NDP, to name a few.Queen’s Park reporter Jeff Gray sets the scene for this month’s campaign, telling us what the major parties are offering voters.

One billion dollars was promised towards building electric vehicles in Ontario on Monday – just the latest investment from government into the industry that hopes to do away with gas-powered engines, and replace them with batteries.People have long talked about electric vehicles, or EVs, as being a crucial element in getting emissions down to net-zero; but, as the Globe’s mining reporter Niall McGee points out, an electric vehicle’s carbon footprint is more than just a pinky toe. While actually driving an EV does not create emissions in the way that gas-powered cars do, the environmental impact of mining the minerals for the cars’ batteries is significant.

Making a career out of holding a camera lens up to the frontlines of conflict, photojournalists can find themselves in tough - if not precarious - situations. The Globe’s new documentary, Shooting War, features nine photographers known for their work in conflict zones.Santiago Lyon, featured in the documentary, worked with the Associated Press for 25 years covering conflicts around the world. He talks about the physical and mental toll capturing wartime images can take and the work he is doing now as the head of education at the Content Authenticity Initiative to counter misinformation.

Jawed Haqmal risked his life for the Canadian military. Now, he is waiting for the Canadian government to let him know if he can move to the country he once helped. Jawed is one of many Afghan nationals fleeing the Taliban who have been battling government bureaucracy to get to Canada for over six months now.Janice Dickson, a parliamentary reporter for The Globe, provides an update on Jawed’s journey and some context on the different challenges Afghan refugees face compared to people fleeing the war in Ukraine.

New data from the 2021 census has been released. For the first time, the Census has counted Canada’s transgender and non-binary populations after making some controversial changes to its questions about sex and gender.Dr. El Chenier, a history professor at Simon Fraser University and founder of Boldly Nonbinary, talks about why this data is important and how it could be miscontrued.

Elon Musk has agreed to buy Twitter, the social media platform for US$44-billion on Monday, just a week after the company’s board tried to block the takeover.The Globe’s technology reporter, Temur Durrani, tells us who is financing the deal, what Twitter’s users and advertisers think of it, and why it matters even if you’ve never written a single tweet.

It may be time to dust off your dress shoes and button-down shirts. Canadians are slowly returning to the office after two years working from dining tables and home offices. The Globe and Mail recently surveyed over 400 people about heading back to the office, and their responses were … emotional.The Globe’s future of work reporter, Vanmala Subramaniam, joins the podcast today to talk about the takeaways of the survey. How are Canadian white-collar workers feeling about this – and what can employers learn from time spent at home?

The age of private space travel is upon us. For a paltry few tens of millions, you could buy your own ticket to visit the International Space Station. A 10-day trip with Axiom Space cost Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy US$50-million to be exact.Ivan Semeniuk, The Globe’s science reporter, got the chance to interview Mark while he was floating around the ISS. Ivan joins the show to talk about what Mark is doing with his time in space, why he decided to pay the large price tag to go and what this could mean for the future of space tourism.

There’s no shortage of craft breweries in Canada. Over the past decade, they grew at an explosive rate, from just a few hundred breweries in 2008 to almost 1,200 in 2020. While this is good news for beer lovers, brewers face an oversaturated market and are struggling to turn a profit.Globe reporter Jason Kirby explains how the industry got here, why the pandemic exacerbated the problem and how the craft brewery landscape will change in the coming years.

Warmer weather means summer, picnics, camping … and mosquitoes. Edmonton is particularly famous for their mosquito season. But with a focus on environmental sustainability, the city is ditching the pesticide spraying they’ve used for years to control mosquitoes, instead turning to a more natural solution – bats and dragonflies.Dr. Ken Fry is an Entomology Instructor in the School of Life Sciences & Business at Olds College in Alberta, and grew up in Edmonton. He studies pest control management and mosquitoes, and tells us why it’s so hard to get rid of these pesky bloodsuckers – and why learning to live with them is the better solution.

With inflation eating into people’s bank accounts, some people are starting to wonder: Hey, is my paycheque shrinking? And according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, it is.Economics reporter Matt Lundy explains how inflation is resulting in a pay cut for most Canadians and what – if anything – you can do about it.

Pierre Poilievre has been known as the federal Conservative’s attack dog. He’s often hyper partisan in Parliament, not afraid to pander to the base and support controversial movements, like the truckers convoy that occupied Ottawa earlier this year.And yet the career politician has tapped into a populist vein and is gaining attention by talking about issues like housing, inflation and cryptocurrency. But is it enough to allow him to win the Conservative leadership race? And then, resonate with the wider public? Globe and Mail columnist Robyn Urback talks about why Poilievre’s messaging is finding its audience right now.

When your country is invaded, how do you keep your family’s spirits up? In besieged Kharkiv, Ukraine, Natalie Slyusar focused on trying to give her son a regular 16th birthday – complete with a homemade chocolate cake. But baking’s a lot easier said than done while a war rages around you.This beguilingly simple story reveals a lot about how we get ourselves and our loved ones through the hardest parts of life. Natalie recounts what it’s like for a family to cope with an invasion.

Sexual health testing took a nose dive during the pandemic, as health care workers and resources were diverted towards the fight against COVID-19. And as Globe reporter Zosia Bielski tells us in this episode, when it comes to sexually transmitted infections: “Less detection equates with more spread.”Now, we’re paying the price: the rate of STIs, from gonorrhea to HIV, has risen precipitously in many places across Canada. Zosia explains why the conditions of the pandemic – from the shame of breaking lockdown rules, to online schooling – have accelerated a decades-long trend of rising STIs in Canada.

On Monday, a by-election in a Montreal suburb ended in defeat for the Parti Quebecois, the province’s champion of separatism for the last fifty years. And yet 35 per cent of Quebeckers still believe in independence for Quebec.The Globe’s Quebec correspondent Eric Andrew-Gee explains why that isn’t translating into support for the PQ anymore.

On Monday, Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer Kieran Moore gave a COVID-19 update after being silent for almost a month. The province will expand PCR testing and antiviral drugs for certain people, Dr. Moore said, while the current surge in cases will likely continue into mid-to-late May.Ontario is not alone. Much of the country is facing a sixth wave of the pandemic. While vaccines remain an important tool for preventing serious disease, less than half of Canadians eligible for a third shot have bothered to get one.Health reporter Carly Weeks has been following the vaccination uptake in Canada since the beginning of the pandemic. She tells us how there’s been a lack of clear messaging around boosters, why more Canadians should be getting a third (or even fourth) dose and what a COVID-19 vaccination schedule may look like in the future.

Most people want to shy away from life’s hard moments. But not Canadian actor and filmmaker Sarah Polley. In her first book, Run Towards the Danger, she shares six personal essays that explore some of the most difficult moments of her life.Sarah discusses the slippery nature of memories, how her relationship with her body has changed and what it’s been like to have the world read about vulnerable moments from her private life.

The federal government has laid out a budget with $56-billion in new spending over six years. On the day the budget is released, journalists get to see the document in advance of the Finance Minister’s announcement – if they join what’s called a “lockup.”The Decibel was in the lockup at a hotel in downtown Ottawa, where Globe journalists explained the main takeaways from the budget, covering spending in the areas of housing, defence, reconciliation, finance, immigration, inflation and more.You’ll hear from the Globe’s Bill Curry, Steven Chase, John Ibbitson, Rachelle Younglai, Kristy Kirkup, Kathryn Blaze Baum, Mark Rendell, and Patrick Brethour, as well as Scotiabank Economics Director Rebekah Young.

This week, Ukraine took back some key areas in the northern part of the country from Russian troops – including the cities of Bucha and Chernihiv. While we’ve heard reports of atrocities from inside these war zones, it’s only now that journalists and other officials are getting to see the damage and death with their own eyes.The Globe’s U.S. correspondent, Nathan Vanderklippe, is one journalist getting the full picture from the ground in Bucha and Chernihiv. He tells us what it’s like in these two cities where the Russian army has destroyed buildings and killed civilians. Plus, we hear from a police officer in Chernihiv, Oksana Ohnenko, on her efforts to help the people of her city and her perspective on what it’s been like living through this war.

As we enter the sixth wave of COVID-19, hospitals are bracing for yet another surge. After two years of weathering wave after wave, doctors, nurses, and hospital staff are “burnt to a crisp,” as one Hamilton, Ont. doctor put it. The problems with Canada’s hospitals – from surgery backlogs, to “hallway medicine,” to staffing shortages – stretch back long before the pandemic.Globe and Mail investigative reporter Robyn Doolittle set out with reporter Tom Cardoso to find why Canadian hospitals were so poorly equipped to handle an influx of patients. What she found, Robyn explains, is how the very foundation of Canada’s universal health care system led to the problems that plague it today.

COVID-19′s sixth wave is here. Quebec’s institute of public health says the sixth wave began in mid-March. On Monday, Ontario premier Doug Ford said the province is in the midst of a “little spike” but that it’s manageable. Hospitalizations are up by about 30 per cent since the week before. And in Alberta, the province’s Health Minister Jason Copping acknowledged an uptick in case positivity rate.With PCR tests not as widely available as they once were, scientists and public health officials have found another way to track COVID-19: wastewater, or sewage.Dr. Lawrence Goodridge is a professor of food microbiology at the University of Guelph who is leading a team of people testing wastewater. He’s part of Ontario’s wastewater Surveillance Initiative which samples 170 locations across the province accounting for more than 75 per cent of the population. He tells us what the samples are telling him right now, and why this tool is an important one for this pandemic and for the future.

Pope Francis has apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system – an apology long awaited by Indigenous Peoples in Canada. This comes after a week of meetings between a delegation of Métis, Inuit and First Nations and the Pope and other members of the Catholic Church.Angie Crerar is an 85-year-old elder of the Métis Nation of Alberta. She spoke to Globe reporter Willow Fiddler in Rome after hearing the Pope speak on Friday. She talked about what the Pope’s apology means to her and Canada’s ongoing journey of reconciliation.

The federal government has released yet another climate change plan oriented toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What’s different this time? This latest Emissions Reduction Plan is a sector-by-sector blueprint that specifically puts pressure on the oil and gas sector to cut its emissions by 42 per cent by 2030.Adam Radwanski is The Globe and Mail’s climate change columnist. He talks about what is required from companies and from the government to meet these goals, and whether the plan is ambitious and feasible enough to give people hope that Canada can actually meet its targets for once.

Employment is growing across Canada’s economy, but nowhere near the rate of the tech sector. Jobs in STEM jumped nearly 200,000 since the pandemic. Specifically, jobs in computer systems design are up 22 per cent. It’s good news for skilled tech workers, but not for small to mid-sized Canadian tech companies. That’s because big American tech companies are scooping up Canada’s top tech talent. And with the rise of remote work, competition is even stiffer.Matt Lundy is an economics reporter and Josh O’Kane is a technology reporter at The Globe and Mail. They explain why Canadian tech companies are struggling to compete, what it means for Canada’s tech industry and what needs to be done to retain Canadian talent.

On March 28, it was announced that Ontario had finally signed onto the federal child-care deal. With all provinces and territories now signed on, families across the country will eventually be paying only $10 a day for child care. To make this possible, the federal government is investing $30 billion to open 146,000 new child-care spots by 2026, but that investment may be useless if we don’t have the early childhood educators to fill them.The Globe’s Dave McGinn has been reporting on the federal child-care deal. He talks to us about why early childhood educators have been leaving the industry in droves, and what needs to happen to make this plan work.

The UN has called it the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Yemen’s now seven-year-long war has killed almost 400,000 people, mostly children younger than five years old. Millions of people in the country are at risk of famine.And the war, between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led coalition trying to push them out, rages on.Kamal Al-Solaylee was born in Yemen. He’s a journalist, author, professor, and Director of the School of Journalism, Writing, and Media at the University of British Columbia. He explains that the war is deliberately forgotten by the world, why that is, and why he thinks Canada’s millions in aid to Yemen doesn’t tell the full story of our role in the conflict.

Almost every province in Canada has now removed its mask mandates in public schools. But many are questioning if now is the right time, and some are even challenging the decision.Today we hear from Sophia Alexanian, a 16-year-old high school student from Toronto, who co-founded a group called Ontario Students for COVID Safety. She organized a province-wide school walkout to protest the end of the mask mandate in schools.We also talk to Caroline Alphonso, an education reporter for The Globe and Mail. She talks to us about how the conversation about removing the mask mandate in schools is playing out across Canada.

Hate crimes in Canada are up. Recent data out from Statistics Canada showed that in the first year of the pandemic, incidents reported to police increased by 37 per cent from the previous year. 2,669 hate crimes were reported to police in 2020 – the highest number since data became available in 2009.But in Canada, charging someone for a hate crime rarely happens. A Globe and Mail investigation found that of the 13 largest municipal and regional police forces, laying charges for a hate crime varied from a low of 6 per cent to a high of 28 per cent.A new task force co-chaired by Canadian Race Relations Foundation and the RCMP wants to create national standards to help front-line officers better identify and solve hate crimes. Mohammed Hashim is the executive director of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and he’s on the show to tell us why hate crimes are a growing issue in Canada and how the task force will work to combat it.

Women and children make up the vast majority of people who have fled the invasion of Ukraine – now over 3.5 million. And while they are no longer at risk of bombing, shelling and other attacks, their journey to safety remains fraught.Globe and Mail reporter Janice Dickson spoke to us from Slovakia, which shares a 100-km border with Ukraine and has accepted a quarter of a million refugees. Janice tells us about what she saw at the border, the homes these women and children are leaving behind and what dangers they need to avoid moving forward.

The Liberals and NDP have set aside their differences and come to a partnership agreement – a pledge from the Liberals to act on major NDP policy issues in exchange for the NDP’s support of the Liberal government on votes that could trigger an election. This deal will keep the Liberal government in power until 2025. It also means we may soon see forward movement on dental care, Pharmacare, housing, and climate policies.Dr. Lori Turnbull is the director and an associate professor at the School of Public Administration at Dalhousie University. She joins us to talk about what this deal is really about, how it affects the Liberal, NDP and Conservative parties, and what it means for the future of Parliament.

Videos showing Muslim students begging to be let into a school while wearing hijabs has gone viral in India, sparking protests. Several of the students petitioned the government to reverse the decision to ban hijabs in schools, the latest in a series of policies targeting Muslims throughout the country.Neha Bhatt is an award-winning journalist and author in Delhi and a frequent contributor to The Globe and Mail. She explains how India’s politics and history have led to this moment, and why some people are concerned these acts of discrimination could be leading towards genocide.

An international court has ordered Russia to stop the war in Ukraine, but the attacks carry on. So what was the point of this case? What impact does the order actually have on the war in Ukraine?Harold Hongju Koh was one of the lawyers representing Ukraine in the case against Russia, and he’s also the Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale University. He tells us about the arguments they brought forward, Russia’s response (or lack thereof), and makes the case for international law, even if the way it’s enforced isn’t always clear.

Every six days, a woman in Canada is killed by an intimate partner, and yet the topic of intimate partner violence (IPV) – more commonly referred to as domestic abuse – is rarely talked about. Because of this, many of the red flags that precede physical violence are often missed. These warning signs can include a pattern of controlling behaviour, which is called coercive control.Elizabeth Renzetti is a columnist for The Globe who has been reporting on and off on violence against women for over 30 years. She tells us about the stigma surrounding IPV, how to recognize coercive control and the debate surrounding the criminalization of it.Warning: This episode discusses domestic violence and may be upsetting to some listeners.If you think you, or someone you know, may be suffering from intimate partner violence, you can find support through the following resources:Crisis lines for each province and territoryAssaulted Women’s Helpline: Toll-free: 1-866-863-0511Canadian Women’s FoundationShelter SafeSOS in Quebec: 1-800-363-9010 or text 1-438-601-1211

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky delivered a stirring speech via video to U.S. Congress on Wednesday, once again calling on the U.S. to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine, transfer more military equipment to his military and put Russia under a complete trade embargo. Zelensky’s speech is being called historic, but what Mr. Zelensky is pleading for may never happen.David Shribman is a contributing columnist at The Globe and a Pulitzer Prize recipient for his coverage of U.S. politics. He tells us about the power of Mr. Zelensky’s speech, how it compares to his address to Canadian Parliament on Tuesday and why, despite strong support for Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden most likely won’t ever deliver on President Zelensky’s requests.

It’s been a year since companies like GameStop and AMC were making headlines for their eye-popping stock price spikes. And while the heights of the craze have passed, a lot of retail investors who got caught up in the momentum are still advocating for their stock picks – and risking a lot of money on their convictions.Business reporter Joe Castaldo recently looked into who these meme stock investors are, why they still believe in the movement a year later and just how much money they’ve lost.

Poland’s capital, Warsaw is struggling to cope with the huge number of people fleeing the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Of the more than 2.6 million refugees that have left, 1.7 million – and counting – have ended up in neighbouring Poland. Warsaw’s mayor says 300,000 have settled in the city so far. The city has set up a number of sprawling shelters including one at an expo centre for up to 20,000 refugees. Thousands of residents have also taken to social media to offer rooms.Kasia Smith is one of them. She’s a Polish-Canadian living in Konstancin, just south of Warsaw, with her husband and three kids. They have welcomed three Ukrainian families to stay with them for as long as they want. The Globe’s Kathryn Blaze Baum interviewed Kasia along with the families and she’s on the show to bring us their story.

It’s a plea that has been heard around the world: Ukraine wants its allies to set up a no-fly zone in its airspace. They believe it would give them the tactical advantage in the war that Russia started. But so NATO, U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders have decisively said no to the idea.But what would establishing a no-fly zone over the country actually look like? Who would be responsible? What’s exactly the case for – and against – it? Dr. Stacie Pettyjohn is a senior fellow and director of the defence program at the Center for a New American Security. She talks us through the complexities of the no-fly zone concept.

In two weeks, more than 2.3 million refugees have fled Ukraine because of the ongoing war. It is the fastest exodus since the Second World War. Poland has seen the largest influx of refugees with more than 1.4 million people arriving in the country since Feb. 24.The Globe’s Europe correspondent Paul Waldie has been reporting from border towns in Poland since the war began. He tells us how these towns are handling so many people coming in, the few long term options available for refugees and why the Polish government needs to figure out a plan to help people resettle.

The race to become the next federal leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is kicking off, not long after the ousting of Erin O’Toole.Chief political writer Campbell Clark says “blast from the past” Jean Charest could have a shot at the top job, but likely isn’t the favourite. He’ll tell us who the early favourites are – including Charest, Pierre Poilievre, and Leslyn Lewis – and what this election might reveal about the identity and direction of the Conservative Party.

According to Statistics Canada, more than 235,000 people experience homelessness in any given year, with 25,000-35,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night. During the pandemic, health issues were exacerbated for people experiencing homelessness. Shelters were often crowded and faced outbreaks. One study found that homeless people were over 20 times more likely to be admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and over 5 times more likely to die within 21 days of a positive test result.Dr. Andrew Boozary is the executive director of social medicine and population health at the University Health Network in Toronto. He tells us why homelessness is a failure of policy – not individual choice – and how he’s working to fix it.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has shocked the world with his full-scale invasion of Ukraine. But many within Russia don’t know what’s going on just across the border, due to the government’s censoring or shutting down of independent and social media. Russia last week passed a new law making it illegal to spread “fake news” that Human Rights Watch says “criminalizes independent war reporting.”International Affairs columnist Doug Saunders helps us understand what people in Russia are hearing about the war, the two different ways they could react to sanctions, and what Putin might do next.

Three million people lost their jobs at the beginning of the pandemic. In response, the federal government introduced the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB). The program provided $2,000 a month for up to seven months to people living in Canada that had stopped working because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The government paid out $81.6-billion to almost 9-million people.Two years later, 1.7 million people may have to pay some of that money back. And it’s not because of a mistake they made on their application. Erica Alini is a personal finance reporter at the Globe and she tells us why some people are being asked to pay back money, how to figure out if you are one of those people and how this isn’t the first time there’s been confusion around CERB.

Canada is not a big player on the international stage. But as a medium-sized power, it has been working with the EU, the U.S. and the U.K. to deliver a series of economic sanctions that have been ratcheting up the pressure on Russia’s economy. But what about helping Ukraine and Ukrainians directly? And where is Justin Trudeau’s red line in terms of what he won’t commit Canada to doing in this war?The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife explains the various levels of measures that the federal government has enacted since the invasion of Ukraine began and where things might go next.

Russia is gaining ground in its invasion of Ukraine. On day 7 of the war, Russia occupied Kherson, a key city in the southern part of Ukraine. Russia started targeting densely populated areas like Kyiv and Kharkiv with heavy shelling, destroying buildings and killing civilians. On March 2, Ukraine’s emergency service said the Russian invasion has killed more than 2,000 civilians in the country.Senior international correspondent Mark Mackinnon is in Lviv, Ukraine. He is back on the show to tell us what Russia’s gains mean for the people of Ukraine and whether they have a chance at holding Russian troops back. Plus, he tells us about his journey out of Kyiv as the invasion on Ukraine began.

Maria Avdeeva is the research director of the European Expert Association, which analyzes Russian disinformation. With the sound of Russia’s attack in the background, Maria explains what’s happening in her hometown of Kharkiv, and why the decision to stay is her way of fighting the “Information War,” where disinformation is weaponized to change how the world understands the horrors unfolding in Ukraine.

As fighting rages on in Ukraine, hundreds of thousands are seeking refuge in a number of neighbouring countries. On Feb. 28, the head of a UN agency said that more than 500,000 people have fled since the start of the Russian invasion. Cars have lined up for more than 10 kilometres at certain checkpoints, while others have had no choice but to walk – sometimes, for 50 km – to escape.Moldova is one such country accepting refugees. According to the Moldovan Border Police, 70,000 people from Ukraine have entered the country since the start of the conflict. International correspondent Nathan Vanderklippe reports from that tiny, landlocked country about the people fleeing Ukraine and how bordering countries are responding to the crisis.

Last week, Frito-Lay, which makes Lays potato chips, but also others like Miss Vickies and Doritos, stopped sending their chips to any of the stores owned by Loblaw. And since Loblaw is the biggest grocer in Canada, that’s a lot of stores: there’s Loblaws, of course, and No Frills, Valu-Mart, Provigo if you’re in Quebec – even Shoppers Drug Mart.Today, the Globe’s retailing reporter, Susan Krashinsky Roberston, will break down what the two companies are fighting over and why a lot more of these tough negotiations might be going on behind closed doors.

From the late 19th century up until the 1960s, travelling by sleeping car train was the height of luxury. Porters tended to a passenger’s every need. They were almost exclusively Black men who worked long hours for low pay and often faced racial discrimination. But these men fought for better treatment and after years of organizing, signed a collective agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway in 1945. The battle to unionize both in Canada and the U.S. paved the way for the Civil Rights movement and the creation of a Black middle class.David MacAndrew Clarke worked as a porter for CPR in the late 1960s. He tells us what it was like working on the train and how his father and the generation of older porters before him dealt with discrimination and fought to make the job better. Plus, Marsha Greene and Arnold Pinnock of the creative team from the new CBC show, The Porter talk about unearthing this sometimes forgotten history and what it was like turning it into a drama for a wider audience.

 It’s been almost two years since the mass shooting in Portapique, Nova Scotia, that killed 22 people. An inquiry into the tragedy that will make recommendations on how to prevent it from happening again began its public phase on Tuesday.“Nova Scotia has not been able to fully come to terms with this massacre,” Atlantic Canada reporter Greg Mercer says. He’ll explain the criticism families and politicians have of the inquiry and what we’ve learned about the shooting and its perpetrator since it happened.

After a fiery speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent Russian troops across the border into Ukraine’s breakaway regions that make up the Donbas region. Western nations are reacting by imposing sanctions on Russia, with Germany going so far as to stop the certification of the NordStream 2 natural gas pipeline that Putin had hoped would deliver fuel to Europe, bypassing Ukraine.So is this move a prelude to a wider invasion? Or has the invasion started? The Globe’s senior international correspondent, Mark MacKinnon, discusses the role of diplomacy now that this conflict has moved into a more inauspicious stage.

When Renford Farrier was given a life sentence for killing a man, he believed he’d be out on parole after 10 years. Thirty years later, he’s still in prison and believes racism is partly to blame.A Globe analysis found that Indigenous, Black and other racialized men are less likely than their white counterparts to be paroled within the first year they’re eligible.Investigative reporter Tom Cardoso explains what that analysis found, and interviews Farrier about his time in prison, why he thinks racism played a role in being denied parole, and what he plans to do when he is finally released.

British Columbia’s health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, announced on Feb. 15 that the province would be easing COVID-19 restrictions. This includes removing capacity limits at gyms, restaurants and nightclubs – even dancing is back. But the province isn’t getting rid of their vaccine passport and that has set B.C. apart from places like Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – provinces that have decided to end vaccine mandates.It’s not the first time British Columbia has been on a divergent path from how other parts of the country have responded to COVID-19. Dr. Henry has been praised and criticized for how she’s brought the province through the pandemic. She’s on the show to tell us what’s behind some of her decisions, where she sees the pandemic going in the near future and what it’s like being the face of public health measures.

A big part of the federal government’s plan to end the convoy protests and blockades includes targeting the flow of money to them. Banks were granted expanded powers and liability protection as part of the Emergencies Act announcement on February 14.But how comfortable are Canadian financial institutions with policing their own customers and freely sharing information with law enforcement? Banking reporter James Bradshaw has been speaking with officials at the big banks and explains exactly how they think they’ll be proceeding under these new powers.

Canada’s women’s hockey team is going for gold at the Beijing Olympics. They’ll face off against their rivals: Team USA. It’s the sixth time these teams have met in an Olympic final. While these two teams have dominated since women’s hockey was introduced to the Olympics in 1998, other countries have struggled to keep up.Globe sports reporter, Rachel Brady, is in Beijing covering the Olympics. She’s on the show to tell us why Canada and the U.S. keep meeting in the finals, what needs to be done for women’s hockey to continue to grow and why there are still so few opportunities outside of the Olympics for these elite athletes.

Three weeks into the convoy protests, political leaders on all levels of government are looking at what levers they can pull. On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act. Meanwhile, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is keeping the province in a state of emergency. And Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson is attempting to negotiate with the truckers who remain in residential neighbourhoods in the capital.Jeff Gray, The Globe’s Queen’s Park reporter, gives us an update of what happened over the weekend and explains the various moves Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario’s Doug Ford have made in recent days as the public’s patience wears thin on the ongoing protests and blockades at various border crossings and in Ottawa.

Valentine’s Day and red roses go hand-in-hand, and for those of us heading to local shops across Canada to pick up a bouquet, you might be surprised to learn those flowers most likely came from Colombia. The country is the second-largest flower exporter in the world, and they ship about 650-million stems overseas just for Valentine’s Day.Yader Guzman is a freelance photographer based in Bogota who documented the journey of some of these flowers for The Globe. He tells us how they go from greenhouses in Bogota to local stores in Canada and how this became such a huge industry for Colombia.

Life for Zexi Li has been a bit of a roller coaster these last few weeks. The Ottawa resident lives just a few blocks away from Parliament Hill, which meant that after the trucker convoy rolled into town the soundtrack to her life was horns. Protesters had been blaring their truck horns from 7 a.m. to as late as 1:30 a.m., until lawyer Paul Champ approached Zexi and a civil suit led to an injunction that muted the honking.Globe reporter Erin Anderssen spoke to Zexi after an Ontario Superior Court justice granted a 10-day injunction against the use of horns by the protesters. Zexi shares what it’s been like living amongst the cacophony, how she slept and why she agreed to be the public face of the proposed class-action suit.

The occupation of streets in downtown Ottawa and blockades at two border crossings to the US, including our busiest in Windsor, Ont. continues.Reporter Colin Freeze tells us more about who the leaders are of the Freedom Convoy, including those fundraising millions of dollars to support it.

Canadians fell in love with the Olympic sport of ice dancing after Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir won gold at both the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver and the 2018 Olympics in South Korea. But they’ve since retired and reigning world bronze medallists, Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier, are hoping to capture the hearts of fans and place on the podium.Timothy Moore, a videographer for The Globe, spoke with Gilles, Poirier and one of their coaches, Carol Lane, to learn about how they construct their highly technical rhythm dance routine, what they think about when they are performing and why they decided to wear bright orange spandex on the world stage.

On Monday afternoon, a judge granted a temporary injunction to stop the incessant honking in downtown Ottawa by protestors dubbed the “Freedom Convoy.” The injunction is part of a proposed multimillion-dollar class-action lawsuit started by a 21-year old resident of the city. The question is: will it work?It’s been more than 10 days now since trucks and protestors took over the capital’s downtown neighbourhoods around Parliament. And the movement spurred other protests around the country this past weekend, against vaccine mandates and public health restrictions more generally. But none established the kind of presence Ottawa has seen.Parliamentary reporter Janice Dickson details the experience of downtown Ottawa residents, and how city government and police have handled the ongoing situation.

It has taken billions of dollars and more than two decades to build, but the successor to the Hubble Telescope is in space and waking up. Thanks to its ability to observe infrared light, the James Webb Space Telescope is able to see way beyond Hubble’s range and further back in time.Science reporter Ivan Semeniuk explains how this new telescope works, what scientists hope to learn from it and why Canada’s contributions are critical to the mission’s success.

The 2022 Winter Olympics are on in Beijing. It’s the first city in the world to host both a winter and summer Games (the latter of which happened back in 2008). These Games are shaping up to be much different. COVID-19 restrictions and a diplomatic boycott by a number of countries put a bit of a damper on the hype.Asia correspondent James Griffiths is in Beijing. He tells us what it’s like inside the Olympic bubble and how politics are playing into these Games.

The vote was 73 to 45. And with that, Erin O’Toole’s leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada is over. This dismissal comes after months of internal strife as MPs questioned the direction of the party under Mr. O’Toole.Conservatives now have to launch a leadership race to decide the direction of their party, without tearing it apart. Political columnist and writer-at-large John Ibbitson argues that the in-fighting in the party that is Canada’s Official Opposition is not just bad for their supporters, but bad for the country as a whole.

U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is on a whirlwind trip to Ukraine as his political fate is being fought in the country’s Parliament and in its press. A report, by senior civil servant Sue Gray, highlighted excessive alcohol consumption by staff and said that some of the gatherings at 10 Downing Street represented a failure in leadership during a time when the rest of the country was under strict lockdowns and expected to be doing their part to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.Now, Europe Correspondent Paul Waldie tells us what was in the report, what’s been left out, and why it might not be enough to oust a political survivor like Boris Johnson.

Over the weekend, Ottawa’s Parliament Hill and downtown area saw thousands of protestors arrive as part of the “Freedom Convoy,” originally sparked by a new vaccine mandate that would impose the same restrictions on unvaccinated truckers as other travellers across the border.A smaller number remained in the capital city on Monday, blocking roads and blaring truck horns. Parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh joins from just a few blocks away to tell us what’s happened on Monday and how federal party leaders are responding.

The arts industry has been decimated by COVID-19 lockdowns. Performance arts like theatre, ballet and live music have been particularly hard hit. According to the Canadian Association for Performing Arts, one in four workers in the sector lost their job in 2020.Then, there’s the audience. For those who love going to see plays, listening to a favourite band live or experiencing any form of art in a social setting, the pandemic has meant losing that world.Kate Taylor is a cultural columnist and visual art critic for the Globe. She tells us how people are feeling in the industry, the hopes for a comeback and how art might one day look back and reflect on this unprecedented time.

There’s a new treatment for COVID-19 in Canada. If taken at the right time during the infection, it can help keep people who have caught the virus out of the hospital. But there are some caveats. In fact, there are a lot.Carly Weeks is one of The Globe’s health reporters and she explains how the new pill from Pfizer works, who can take it and why it’s already in short supply.

In a surprising twist, at least in Bank of Canada news, the central bank decided on Wednesday to keep its key interest rate at a record low of 0.25 per cent. It was widely expected that the bank would announce a rate hike in order to cool Canada’s soaring inflation.The Governor of the Bank of Canada, Tiff Macklem, did say interest rate hikes are coming in the near future – and that means borrowing costs are also going up.Mark Rendell covers the Bank of Canada, finance and economics for The Globe. He explains what the Bank of Canada’s recent decision means. Plus, he’ll get into just how our central bank works and its role in making our economy run smoothly.

Truckers are now subject to the same rules as other travellers at the border, which means they can be refused entry or required to quarantine if they are unvaccinated. Even though, according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance, there’s no reason to think truckers are less vaccinated than average, the new vaccination mandate has become the subject of vigorous political debate. It even spurred a protest in the form of a group of truckers and their supporters headed to Ottawa, calling themselves “the Freedom Convoy.”But as parliamentary reporter Kristy Kirkup explains, what’s driving the delay and shortages of some products in stores across the country is more complex than any one policy.

Sending a loved one to an assisted-living home is never an easy choice. For the people of Nunavut, the majority of whom are Inuit, it’s even harder. The territory has 36 beds for elders in four different communities. That means 21 of its 25 fly-in communities are without any options for elder care that don’t involve sending a family member away. And some families – whose elders need more intensive care – must choose between providing all of the care themselves, or sending their loved ones to Ottawa, where there is a long-term care home that houses Inuit elders.Kelly Grant, the Globe’s national health care reporter, went to Nunavut to provide an in-depth look at health care in Nunavut and the challenges its residents face accessing it. While there, she found that the lack of elder care in the territory was one of the most common complaints and one of the hardest issues to solve.

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who have “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” stuck in their head, and those who don’t … yet. The Disney song is a viral sensation and unexpected hit from the 2021 film, Encanto.Michael Birenbaum Quintero is an ethnomusicologist and Associate Professor at Boston University. Even he agrees it’s a catchy tune, and explores its musical influences along with the movie’s wider representation of Colombian and Latin American music and culture.

In the Before Times, millions of white collar workers would get up every weekday morning, get dressed, commute into the office and work at their desk for the day. Since the pandemic, working from home has become more common. That’s resulted in a lot of unused office space across the country.As companies start to think about what work will look like as pandemic restrictions ease, one trend seems to be emerging: Hot-desking. This is the idea that there are no assigned seats in an office. Instead, an employee books their spot before coming in through an app.While the idea saves companies’ money, the question of whether employees will be happy in this environment is up for debate. Vanmala Subramaniam is the Globe’s Future of Work reporter. She tells us why this trend is gaining traction now, what workers told her about their experience with it and how hot-desking will transform post-pandemic office life.

Senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon is back in Ukraine, as officials from Canada and the U.S. — as well as military equipment from Britain — fly in to show support for Ukraine and try to dissuade Russia from invading.There’s not much indication it’s working, and as Mark explains, while there are more talks scheduled for later in the week, hope of a peaceful solution seems to be fading fast.

The Diary of Anne Frank is one of the most widely read first-person accounts of the Holocaust. The question of how Anne and her family were discovered has haunted readers for decades. In a new book, The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation, author Rosemary Sullivan details what an investigative team found when they set out to answer: who tipped off the authorities to Anne’s hiding spot?Turns out, it’s more complicated than you’d think. Marsha Lederman, the Globe’s Western Arts Correspondent, interviewed Sullivan about her book, and explains what they found, and what we can learn from this story today.

The pandemic promised a gold mine for companies like Zoom, Shopify, and Peloton. And at first, these companies did see a boost in their stock value. But the ground started to shift at the end of 2021 and now these stocks, which are often darlings of retail investors, are seeing substantial drops.Report on Business reporter and columnist Tim Kiladze explains what has led to this investor whiplash and how a lot of trading on the stock market has become detached from the actual value of some companies.

When Gerald Cotten died suddenly in 2018, he was only 30 years old, but fabulously wealthy thanks to founding Quadriga, one of the first cryptocurrency exchanges. Or at least, that’s how it seemed. His death coincided with growing concerns about the legitimacy of Quadriga.After investigating, the Ontario Securities Commission said Quadriga was run like a Ponzi scheme. More than Quadriga clients collectively lost more than $200 million.Jennifer Kathleen Margaret Roberston was Cotten’s wife, and was there when he died. And despite being at the centre of a huge scandal, she’s never spoken publicly about her husband’s fraud or death – or the suspicion it cast on her – until now.Telecom reporter Alexandra Posadzki and ROB reporter Joe Castaldo interviewed Robertson about her memoir, Bitcoin Widow: Love, Betrayal and the Missing Millions. They bring us that interview, and their expertise as journalists who’ve been covering this story from the beginning.

Quebec is the first jurisdiction in Canada to propose a ‘health contribution’ tax for people who choose not to get vaccinated against COVID-19. This has sparked a debate about whether some government pandemic measures are going too far into the realm of being punitive.Dr. Devon Greyson, an assistant professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia, has been studying vaccine hesitancy since 2015. They break down the ethical considerations of this controversial piece of proposed public health policy.Editor’s note: An earlier version of this text misidentified Dr. Greyson as an associate professor at the School of Population and Public Health at the University of British Columbia.

With kids heading back to classrooms and daycares after the holiday break, there’s plenty of anxiety in the air. Omicron has proven to be highly transmissible and that means these communal settings are at high risk for spread of the virus.We hear from parents and teachers about how they’re feeling. Plus Dr. Janine McCready, an infectious diseases physician at Michael Garron hospital in Toronto tells us what we know about Omicron and kids so far, and the tools that are needed to keep transmission down in both schools and in the wider community.

There are only nine students but the kids of Taigh Sgoile na Drochaide – or the Bridge Schoolhouse in English – represent the future of Gaelic fluency in Canada. This is the first Gaelic-immersion school in the country and the people who founded it hope one day it’ll be the first of many.Greg Mercer, who reports on Atlantic Canada for The Globe and Mail, shares the story of how this school sprouted up from a small community that is passionate about regaining its Gaelic roots.

Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic is known for being among the best male tennis players in the world. Off the court, he’s known for his anti-vaccine sentiments. The Australian Open granted him a medical exemption that would allow him to compete, but when he attempted to enter the country on Thursday, January 6, he was detained at the border. He was released on January 10, but his future at the Open remains uncertain.Caitlin Thompson, co-founder of Racquet and publisher of Racquet Magazine, a print quarterly on the culture of tennis, explains why Djokovic was detained, and what makes him such a polarizing figure in the tennis world, and why this may not be the end of the story.

Between infection, isolation and layoffs because of restrictions, staff shortages are hitting workers and business hard right now thanks to this Omicron wave of the pandemic.Independent business reporter Chris Hannay explores which industries are feeling hardest hit, how the government’s guidelines and support for workers and workplaces has changed, and why for some, the timing of these new lockdowns really couldn’t have been worse.

The world of Harry Potter – which now extends from books to movies, theme parks, spin-offs, merchandise, and a vast amount of fan-generated content called “fanfic”– has been beloved since the first book was published more than 20 years ago.But in recent years, this world’s creator, author J.K. Rowling, has been making statements against trans activists, and sometimes raising the possibility of violence from someone who identifies as trans.Culture critic and founder of Friday Things Stacy Lee Kong explains how “Potterheads” have reacted to Rowling’s controversial comments, how the books’ legacy endures, and how HBO Max dealt with it in their special, Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts.

It’s easy to not be mindful about drinking alcohol. A glass of wine with dinner or a beer after work can quickly become a habit with little thought. And since the pandemic struck, for some people, alcohol is playing an even bigger role.Enter: Dry January, a month-long ‘challenge’ to avoid or cut back on alcohol consumption. André Picard, Globe and Mail columnist, talks about its virtues, the rise in sober-curious culture and why we may consume more alcohol than we think.

Omicron is a variant of the novel coronavirus that was discovered back in 2019. The data we’ve collected suggests it’s less virulent, but more contagious, thanks to many mutations.To track these mutations and try to understand what might be coming next in this pandemic, scientists use genomic sequencing. Globe science reporter Ivan Semeniuk is back to talk about how scientists map variants’ genomes.

Elite athletes’ every move are subjected to scrutiny, rewound and played in slow-motion. And while we often discuss the physical stress this kind of exertion places on them, we’re less used to talking about the psychological strain this focus on bodies creates.Eating disorders are surprisingly commonplace amongst Olympic athletes, made worse by toxic training environments and suspect science, according to a recent Globe and Mail investigation. Grant Robertson and Rachel Brady discuss their findings, and a former Olympian shares her personal experience.

For the end of 2021, we're bringing you an episode of Stress Test, a podcast about personal finance from The Globe and Mail, hosted by Rob Carrick and Roma Luciw.2021 was a year of surprises in personal finance. Who would have thought inflation would take off, housing could get even hotter and that job-hopping would be commonplace amid a global pandemic? So, what’s next? In this episode, Rob and Roma ask four personal finance experts - Robb Engen, Preet Banerjee, Erica Alini and Barry Choi - what they'll be watching in 2022. Plus, Rob and Roma share their own thoughts.

Today we're bringing you an episode of City Space, a Globe and Mail podcast about how to make our cities better, hosted by Adrian Lee.Public spaces are often the best parts of a city. But during the pandemic, many of us started to realize how our public spaces, like parks, weren’t quite working for us. In this episode, we hear from three experts: Adri Stark, project manager at Park People and one of the authors of the 2021 Canadian City Parks Report; Leslie Kern, the author of Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World and Anna Zivarts, the director of the Disability Mobility Initiative Program in Washington. In conversation with Adrian, they share how public spaces are failing people in ways we might not often consider, and how we can really make them work for all of us.

A stranger helps a woman keep her new Christmas tradition alive. People come together to make sure their community fridges are full. A group of neighbours celebrate 500 nights of thanking frontline workers.During the pandemic doldrum, it’s been easy for many of us to feel isolated and down. But the stories on today’s episode of The Decibel capture heartfelt moments, little acts of kindness and remind us about the power of community.

Al Etmanski has spent his life working to help improve life for Canadians with disabilities. Now, the federal government is considering establishing a fund to help top-up disability benefits that are offered by the provinces and territories. If established, around one million people could be lifted out of poverty.Globe and Mail feature writer Ian Brown speaks with Al about the proposed fund, why poverty among disabled people has been ignored for so long, and Al’s long career as a parent activist for people with disabilities.

Esi Edugyan is known for her books of fiction. She’s a two-time winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her novels Half-Blood Blues and Washington Black. In her most recent book, she’s turned to the world of non-fiction. Out of the Sun: On Race and Storytelling is a collection of essays drawn from her 2021 CBC Massey Lectures, devoted to bringing a richer context to black histories and other stories about race that often go untold.Decibel producer Sherrill Sutherland sat down with Esi to find out why this moment felt like the right time to write this book, why ghost stories and race are important and why in Canada we still have trouble discussing our true relationship to slavery.

The holidays are here and so is the Omicron variant of COVID-19.Science reporter Ivan Semeniuk on what the latest science says about how Omicron is different from other variants like Delta, in three important ways: its transmissibility, how well it can escape the vaccines we have now, and how sick it can make us.

It’s the perfect time to escape into a book. Arts editor Judith Pereira and Western Arts Correspondent Marsha Lederman on the book trends this year, the silver lining of the pandemic’s effect on independent booksellers, and what you should cozy up and read.All the books mentioned in this episode (in order):Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony DoerDucks, Newburyport by Lucy EllmannFight Night by Miriam ToewsThe Strangers by Katherena VermetteOh William! by Elizabeth StroutAll’s Well by Mona AwadMatrix by Lauren GroffWe Want What We Want by Alix OhlinBewilderment by Richard PowersAstra by Cedar BowersCare Of by Ivan CoyoteEveryone Knows Your Mother is a Witch by Rivka GalchenWhat Strange Paradise by Omar el AkkadReturn of the Trickster by Eden RobinsonCrossroads by Jonathan FranzenNightbitch by Rachel YoderOn Animals by Susan OrleanSilence of the Girls by Pat BarkerMiddlemarch by George Elliot

This weekend, Hong Kongers head to the polls to elect their government. Well, to elect 20 of the 90 seats in their Legislative Council – and from a roster of candidates carefully vetted by the Communist Party of China in Beijing.The Globe’s Asia correspondent James Griffiths tells us how Hong Kong’s normally boisterous election has been quieted by the new national security law, and why it’s still going ahead despite critics calling it a sham.

Case counts are rising in many parts of the country as Omicron becomes the dominant variant of COVID-19. As some regions reintroduce public health restrictions, there’s a growing call to make rapid tests (also called rapid antigen tests) more widely available. The availability and cost of these tests varies across the country – anyone can buy them online, but at a fairly steep price compared to the free ones available at libraries across Nova Scotia.Dr. Dalia Hasan started COVID Test Finders to share information about finding rapid tests, to raise money for those who can’t afford them and to advocate for more equitable access to rapid testing.

Two years ago, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. But for over a year now, a civil war has raged in Ethiopia between the federal government and the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front.Throughout the conflict, reports emerged of violence against civilians being committed by all sides, including horrific sexual assault. Lucy Kassa is an Ethiopian freelance journalist investigating these attacks, speaking to women and girls victimized by soldiers on both sides of the conflict – even after she fled the country after being threatened by men who broke into her home and interrogated her about her journalism.

What is the price of a wetland? A forest? A river? How can you even go about assessing the value of natural habitats? How do you factor in the watershed’s ability to mitigate flooding? What’s the price of all that carbon a forest sucks up?Governments in Canada are starting to grapple with these questions, especially in face of climate change and increasing extreme weather events. Environment reporter Kathryn Blaze Baum explores the nascent world of eco-assets, or natural assets, and looks at the complex issues around how values are ascribed to natural landscapes and why some people are worried about the consequences of this shift in thinking.

In 1957, a lone Mountie in northern B.C. heard rumours about sexual abuse of boys who attended the Lower Post residential school.The Mountie and a group of Kaska Dena children brought the sexual predator to trial, but intimidation of witnesses derailed the case. Fast forward decades later, to mark Canada’s first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, the Lower Post Nation burned the former residential school to the ground.The Globe’s Patrick White was there to watch the flames. While investigating how justice was thwarted more than 60 years ago, he discovers the cover-up that allowed the abuse of children to continue.

Ukraine and U.S. intelligence officials, as well as online sleuthers, have noticed a buildup of Russian troops along most of the border separating the former Soviet country from Russia. It has sparked worries that an invasion may be imminent and we could see a repeat of 2014, when Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula.Senior International Correspondent Mark MacKinnon recently travelled to Kyiv to talk to Ukraine’s defence minister and get a sense of how concerned people are of the possibility of Russian aggression. Meanwhile, Russia says these fears are overblown and President Vladimir Putin recently held a call with U.S. President Joe Biden to discuss the situation. But was it enough to diffuse the tensions?

In December of 2020 there was a lot of hope in the air as the first shots of the COVID-19 vaccine were administered in Canada. Fast forward a year and more than 75 per cent of the population is considered fully vaccinated with two doses. But with the Delta variant still dominant and public health officials on high alert about the new Omicron variant, another shot of the vaccine is being recommended by the National Advisory Committee on Immunization. That means a third dose of the vaccine could soon be made available for many Canadians 18 years of age and older.The Globe’s health reporter, Carly Weeks, explains why a booster shot is being recommended, how it will help with waning immunity and what we should expect as we head into a second COVID-19 winter.

The experts said there’d be about 38,000 jobs added to Canada’s labour force in November. So when Statistics Canada announced that that number was actually 154,000, people were left scratching their heads. Especially since this news comes at a moment when Canada is facing a labour shortage.So what’s going on? And just how good is this news, actually? Economics reporter for The Globe and Mail Matt Lundy digs into the new labour numbers, explains what experts think is causing this surge and what it means for the rest of the economy.

It has been 32 years since the École Polytechnique massacre, which left 14 women dead and spurred a debate about gun control in Canada. Progress on this file has been mixed, with various pieces of legislation over the decades that have made some efforts to prevent more mass shootings but stopped short of full-on bans of certain weapons.The Globe and Mail’s Patrick White clarifies which guns are legal, how our gun laws compare to those in the U.S. and what gun-control advocates would like to see changed.

The debate over the place and importance of the French language in Canada erupted into the corporate world after Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau gave a speech, mainly in English, in Montreal, and afterward said it was “testament” to the city that he hasn’t needed to learn French in the 14 years that he has lived there.His comments caused a cascade of criticism from politicians and ended up having a ripple effect for other English-speaking CEOs. Now Michael Rousseau is vowing to learn the language. Report on Business columnist, Rita Trichur, explains why bilingualism is a key component of being a corporate leader in Canada.

Barbados has moved on to a new future after the country declared itself a republic and replaced Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state with its recently elected president, Sandra Mason. The land was colonized by Britain 400 years ago, eventually becoming a slave society where hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans were brought to work on plantations growing tobacco, cotton, and sugar, among other crops.And while this moment was met with joyous celebration – and pop star Rihanna became, officially, a National Hero – the idea of the country becoming a republic had actually been debated for many years.Kareem Smith, a reporter for the online publication Barbados Today, explains what the future holds for the country and how the younger generation pushed for this moment to happen.

A bill first introduced in March 2020 is back in Parliament, as its backers try for the third time to put conversion therapy in the Criminal Code of Canada. And this time, the bill would ban the practice for adults as well as children.Globe Parliamentary reporter Janice Dickson has the latest on the effort to effectively ban the disgraced practice that purports to change people’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Last week the world learned about Omicron, the new COVID-19 variant. It was first detected in Southern Africa and many countries quickly tightened restrictions on travellers arriving from the region and imposed travel bans. The World Health Organization declared Omicron “a variant of concern” because of the very large number of mutations that could pose a high global risk of infection surges.The Globe’s Science Correspondent Ivan Semeniuk tells us what is currently known about the new variant and what it could mean about the efficacy of the COVID-19 vaccines that are currently available.

Many producers and investors had high expectations that cannabis-infused drinks would offer new and existing users a new way to get high. Some predicted hundreds of millions of dollars in annual sales from this type of product. But so far, reality hasn’t lived up to the hype, as THC drinks struggled to break into an extremely competitive and regulated market with only mellow sales.The Globe’s business reporter Irene Galea looks into what those problems are and what they could mean for the future of the industry.

Last week, two Cineplex movie theatres in Richmond Hill and Oakville Ontario were vandalized. Both theatres were showing the South Indian film, Kurup, and had multiple screens slashed. The mysterious incident is not the first time South Indian movie screenings have been targeted. It’s something that’s been happening since 2015.Joe Castaldo is a reporter for the Report on Business at The Globe. He explains what exactly has been going on and what some people in the industry think might be behind the incidents.

The floods in British Columbia’s Fraser Valley have left much of the area in ruin. One community that has been particularly hard hit is farmers. Damage to farms in the area – which supply about half of B.C.’s eggs, dairy and poultry – has been catastrophic. Thousands of animals have died and many of the properties remain underwater.The Globe’s Andrea Woo describes her experience on the ground in Abbotsford, B.C. Then Ann Hui, The Globe’s national food reporter, explains what impact this will have on the food supply and why it could take a long time before these farms are back up and running.

Pretty much as soon as the election was over, murmurs began, questioning how much longer Conservative leader Erin O’Toole would lead. Now there’s a new session of Parliament and O’Toole can’t seem to get away from questions about strife within his own party, from issues like the vaccine status of his caucus members to petitions being launched about the timing of his next leadership review.Ian Bailey is a reporter with the Globe’s Ottawa bureau and author of the Politics Briefing newsletter, and he’ll explain the tumult from the last few weeks inside the party and what it means in terms of how the Conservatives will be able to function as the Official Opposition in this minority government.

Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai disappeared from the public eye after accusing the former vice-premier of China of sexually assaulting her. The accusation was wiped from her Weibo account within an hour.Nothing much happened until tennis stars like Naomi Osaka and Billie Jean King, along with international media and the Women’s Tennis Association, began asking where Peng went a few weeks later. Then a message allegedly from Peng appeared, followed by a video purportedly showing her safely out at dinner. This didn’t convince everyone of her safety or that her allegations were being taken seriously by Chinese authorities.But, as Globe sports columnist Cathal Kelly argues, it was enough to kill the news story and to quiet calls for boycotting the upcoming Beijing Olympics.

Gender-based violence often doesn’t get reported to authorities, and the signs that someone might need help are easily missed by friends, family and even the person experiencing the abuse. But a hand signal created for people to silently ask for help recently went viral on Tik Tok – and was used by a missing teen who ended up getting rescued in Kentucky.Elizabeth Renzetti is a columnist and feature writer at The Globe who often covers issues around gender-based violence. She explains how the hand signal came to be, why it matters that it went viral on Tik Tok and what we need to know about the more subtle signs of abuse that often go overlooked.

A border between Poland and Belarus which has been at the centre of a geopolitical conflict is now quiet. Thousands of asylum-seekers, many of them fleeing conflict zones in the Middle East, were trapped in Belarus hoping to cross over into Poland. On Thursday, Belarussian authorities cleared the main camps, but it’s not known what will happen to the people still trying to cross into the EU.Mark MacKinnon is The Globe’s senior international correspondent. He was recently in Poland and explains why the situation is widely considered a manufactured crisis motivated by revenge, what the geopolitical implications are and how the people seeking refuge are caught in the middle.

It has been five years since the North American leaders have gathered together for one of their so-called Three Amigos Summits. And while U.S. President Joe Biden is a familiar face to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, some of the current U.S. policies are not so nice to Canada.The Globe and Mail’s Washington, D.C. correspondent, Adrian Morrow, is on the show to discuss what Trudeau will likely be pushing Biden on, especially around some protectionist trade issues, and what the U.S. and Mexico may want from Canada in return.

Record rainfall has caused flooding and mudslides in several parts of Vancouver Island and southern mainland B.C. Hundreds were trapped in their cars by mudslides, with at least one person killed and thousands evacuated from communities devastated by flooding.Globe environment reporter Kathryn Blaze Baum explains what caused the rainstorm that wreaked havoc on the province and how this summer’s wildfires and heat dome are related.

Lee Maracle’s career inspired a generation of Indigenous writers to write about their own experience. The author, poet and activist died last week at 71 years old.Maracle’s friend, the playwright, author and frequent Globe columnist Drew Hayden Taylor, remembers Maracle and her legacy.You can listen to Maracle’s Margaret Laurence Lecture from the Writers’ Trust of Canada here.

A recent Ontario Court of Appeal ruling found that the Crown violated two treaties signed in 1850. The agreements cover a vast part of Northern Ontario, and were originally about sharing the wealth of the land. But the government has been paying the Anishinaabe descendants of that land just $4 per person per year.Sara Mainville is an Anishinaabe lawyer and partner at Olthuis Kleer Townshend in Toronto. She explains to guest host Willow Fiddler how over 100 years later these agreements are still being interpreted literally by governments in Canada, and why treaty agreements should be handled differently.

Humans make a lot of noise – in our streets, in the skies and in our seas. All this anthropogenic clamour is not just annoying, it can be detrimental to the health of both humans and animals. But scientists have never really had a chance to study just how much noise we produce and what would happen if we stopped producing it … until the COVID-19 global pandemic sent most of the world into a lockdown in early 2020.This temporary silencing of a lot of human activity was a silver lining to the pandemic as it provided scientists with conditions to conduct experiments and learn about the natural world. Today on the show we speak to three Canadian researchers who all listened and learned during the Great Quieting of early 2020.Thanks to Dr. Nicola Koper, Dr. William Minarik and Dr. David Barclay.

Retired Corporal Robin Rickards did three tours of duty with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan, and he kept in touch with Afghans who worked in support roles that he met there. Since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan this August after the US and coalition forces withdrew, he’s been fielding calls for help fleeing the country.One interpreter Rickards worked with, Abdul Jamy Kohistany, did make it to Canada with his immediate family, but had to leave other family members behind in Afghanistan. Rickards tells us about how Kohistany is settling in Thunder Bay, why he considers him and other Afghans veterans, and why veterans are still working to bring others to safety.

The price of Canadian dairy products might be jumping early next year and that’s because of the Canadian Dairy Commission. Recently, they announced an unprecedented 8.4% increase for the price farmers are paid for milk, and a 12.4% increase for the price of butter. And those price hikes might well be passed along to you at the supermarket.Sylvain Charlebois is a professor of food distribution and policy and the director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University. He explains how the cost of dairy gets set every year, why Canada still has a supply-management system for dairy and whether or not it’s actually beneficial to farmers and Canadians.

There are only a few days left at the 26th annual Conference of the Parties, and negotiators from over 200 countries are still working on trying to hammer out agreements to help reduce global emissions.There has already been a long list of promises made at this summit, but are any of them cause for optimism? Are they building momentum to put pressure on governments to actually implement policies to fulfill them? Or are they all a bunch of ‘blah, blah, blah,’ as climate activist Greta Thunberg puts it?The Globe’s climate change columnist Adam Radwanski joined The Decibel from COP26 in Glasgow to talk about how history will judge this iteration of the world’s attempts to stunt climate change.

Stealthing – the act of someone deliberately removing or not wearing a condom after their partner insists on one – is currently being addressed by the Supreme Court of Canada. The case being reviewed by the Justices will affect the interpretation of consent.Justice writer Sean Fine breaks down the case before the highest court and the two approaches being debated over how to determine what constitutes sexual assault.

It’s an enticing promise that’s being sold: Come to Canada as an international student and find prosperity. And it’s being heavily sold to young people in India’s Punjab province, where some Canadian post-secondary institutions aren’t just recruiting but have become household names in villages on the other side of the world.The problem is that life in Canada for these students is often bumpy and many feel they lack the supports they need when it comes to housing, employment and mental health services. Meanwhile, colleges and universities are profiting off of increasingly higher enrolment numbers of international students. The Globe’s national race and ethnicity reporter, Dakshana Bascaramurty, shares what she has learned about Canada’s international student program.

Over 100 countries – including Canada – made a pledge this week at COP26 to end and reverse deforestation by 2030. It’s a commendable goal that could help meet global climate targets, but Canada also has work to do domestically.Protecting some of the oldest and rarest trees from logging in British Columbia is an ongoing battle. On Tuesday, B.C.’s government proposed to suspend logging in one-third of the province’s old growth forests. How fast that will happen remains a question. The Globe’s B.C. legislative reporter, Justine Hunter has been covering the tensions around harvesting old growth forests for decades. She explains what B.C. is planning to do and how it fits into the big picture goals of saving the trees.

As the global economy revs back up after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer demand is up. Supply chains are bogged down. So prices are spiking and the inflation rate is getting higher – and concern is rising with it.Economics columnist David Parkinson is on The Decibel to unpack what’s happening with inflation and why he thinks that with some time and some patience it’ll settle back down.

Cindy Blackstock, executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring society, has been at the heart of an ongoing battle with the federal government. While working as a social worker in B.C., Blackstock noticed that the child welfare program for First Nations kids living on-reserve received less funding than for kids living off reserve. She, along with the Assembly of First Nations, filed a human rights complaint in 2007. In 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal agreed that federal underfunding of child welfare services on-reserve was discriminatory and led to thousands of children being unnecessarily taken into care.The tribunal ordered Ottawa to pay up to $40,000 to those affected by this discrimination. But the government has challenged the CHRT order on several occasions – including most recently last week. Cindy Blackstock is on the show to talk about what this most recent development means and where the fight for compensation goes from here.

We’ve already warmed the climate by 1.1 C and we’re starting to see the effects with more frequent extreme weather events. On Monday, political leaders from around the globe will address the world to talk about how they plan to tackle the immense challenge of climate change.Dr. Sarah Burch is a climate change researcher and an associate professor at the University of Waterloo. She is on the show today to discuss what to watch out for from COP26 and why – despite the complexity of the problem – she hasn’t lost hope that we can still save the world from the worst effects of climate change.

China’s President Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend COP26, leaving some to wonder how countries will be able to agree on bold moves to lessen climate change without the leader of the world’s highest carbon-emitting country at the table. Over the next two weeks, leaders from more than 190 countries will meet in Glasgow to talk about the state of climate change and how to transition to a low-carbon economy.The Globe’s Asia correspondent James Griffiths explains why Xi Jinping isn’t expected to attend, what it means for the success of COP26 and what exactly China’s plans are for reducing emissions.

Only nine people in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet remained in their old jobs. The massive shakeup in the team included putting a climate activist in charge of Environment and Climate Change Canada, a rising star in Foreign Affairs and the first woman of colour at the head of a problem-plagued Defence ministry.But what do all these moves mean? And why should voters care about the promotions and demotions that were handed out? Parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh is back on The Decibel to break it all down.

Over the last year, almost a dozen senior Canadian military leaders have been accused of either enabling or perpetrating sexual misconduct, prompting an independent review by a former Supreme Court justice, and many calls for change within the Canadian Armed Forces.But Megan MacKenzie, a professor and the Simons Chair in International Law and Human Security at Simon Fraser University who researches the intersection of gender and culture in the military, says the kind of cultural change needed in the military goes beyond senior leadership.

The largest childhood mass vaccination campaign since polio could soon be underway in Canada. Health Canada recently received a submission from Pfizer/BioNtech to approve COVID-19 vaccines for kids aged 5-11. On Oct. 22 the drugmaker also released data from a clinical trial that showed their vaccine was 90.7% effective for that age group. Following shortly behind, Moderna announced on Oct. 25 that their vaccine generated a strong immune response in kids aged 6-11. While this is all hopeful news, not all parents are ready to get their kids inoculated.Health reporter Carly Weeks explains why some parents remain hesitant about the COVID-19 vaccine for kids, what needs to be done to combat that hesitancy and how the logistical preparation and educational work needs to start ASAP in order to avoid another chaotic vaccination rollout in Canada.

The first sign that there was fighting at the highest levels of power at Rogers Communications Inc. appeared in late September. That’s when it was announced that the company’s CFO, Anthony Staffieri, was leaving. Soon afterward, The Globe reported that his departure was connected to an attempt he made to oust Rogers’ CEO, Joe Natale, with the help of then-chair of the board, Edward Rogers.In the weeks since then, there has been a lot of fallout as the rift in the company – and within the Rogers family itself – has deepened. The Globe’s telecoms reporter Alexandra Posadzki has been breaking news on this file for nearly a month now and is on the show to explain the cast of characters involved in this corporate drama and what it means for one of Canada’s biggest telecoms companies and the family that runs it.

Cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, created a whole new market – and it felt like a whole new world to journalist and author Ethan Lou. He wrote Once a Bitcoin Miner: Scandal and Turmoil in the Cryptocurrency Wild West. After he started investing in Bitcoin while in university, he ended up making enough money to quit his job as a journalist at Reuters in his mid-twenties.Ethan tells us about his own adventure in the fast-paced cryptocurrency culture of Calgary in the late 2010s, and how Wild West frontier myths help explain the draw of cryptocurrency, despite the downsides that come with the ups and downs of the market.

Dave Chappelle’s latest Netflix comedy special, The Closer, has been getting a lot of criticism since its release on October 5th. That’s because a number of jokes in the standup are about trans people and are being called transphobic. This prompted some Netflix employees to stage a walkout on Wednesday in protest of the special but also because the company continues to stand by the content and the comedian.Imara Jones is a journalist and founder and CEO of TransLash Media. She explains why The Closer is so enraging, why Netflix’s defence of Chappelle may come at a cost to the company and why she thinks the content in the special could cause real-life harm to trans people.

On Monday, Albertans headed to the ballot box to cast their votes on a number of things: municipal leaders, the merits of daylight savings and whether the country should get rid of the mention of equalization from the Constitution Act of 1982. But there’s a problem with that last one: Alberta alone can’t actually make any changes to the country’s Constitution.So what was the point of this referendum? Globe columnist and reporter Kelly Cryderman thinks this was more about politics than policy and says that this vote couldn’t have happened at a worst time for people, like Alberta Premier Jason Kenney, who want to see Ottawa renegotiate the equalization program.

People in Iqaluit are in the midst of a water crisis. On Oct. 12 a state of emergency was declared when some of the 9,000 residents in Nunavut’s capital city complained of a suspicious fuel-like odour coming from their taps. Since then, they’ve been told to avoid drinking that water. Recent test results confirmed the water is contaminated with high levels of hydrocarbons consistent with diesel fuel or kerosene.National news reporter Willow Fiddler has been following the story and she explains what we know about the situation so far, how people in Iqaluit have been managing without any tap water and how it’s related to a broader water crisis facing many Indigenous communities in Canada.

In the early days of the pandemic, many speculated that being locked down with partners would inevitably lead to a baby boom. Recently, Statistics Canada released preliminary data that points to the opposite. In 2020, more than 13,000 fewer babies were born than in the previous year. Experts were surprised at just how sharp the decline was.Zosia Bielski is a national reporter for The Globe who writes about how we live together and apart, and traces large-scale social shifts. She explains why so many people chose to put a pause on family planning, why experts are saying the data may have a silver lining and whether this baby bust could just be a blip.

A terrorism hoax charge has been withdrawn years after a Burlington, Ont., man told multiple journalists that he had travelled to Syria and worked as an executioner for ISIS. An RCMP investigation then found no evidence that Shehroze Chaudhry, now 26, went to Syria or joined the terrorist organization.Leah West, national security lawyer and professor at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, discusses how the story of an ISIS fighter among us sparked a political scandal and stoked public fear that has affected how our country is dealing with Canadians who really did go fight overseas and are now being detained there – along with their children.

Restaurants in Canada are facing an exodus. Over the past 19 months the hospitality industry has lost 15 per cent of the work force. Labour issues have been plaguing restaurants since the pandemic began and many are scrambling to hire and keep workers on. But this is an issue that existed long before COVID-19.Therese DeGrace worked in restaurants, including as a chef and as a consultant, for almost 30 years. Working with food had always been a dream of hers, but her expectations didn’t match up with her experience. She talks about what it’s like working in the industry, why the pandemic prompted so many to leave and what restaurants need to do to get workers back.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has yet to set a date for the reopening of Parliament nearly a month after the federal election.Parliamentary reporter Marieke Walsh updates us on what the parties think about their gains, their losses – and their leaders – as they look toward a new session.

Today we're bringing you an episode of City Space, a new podcast from The Globe and Mail about how to make our cities better, hosted by Adrian Lee.The 15-minute city is an urban planning concept that would see neighbourhoods designed so that day-to-day amenities are always just a short walk or bike ride away. And after living 18+ months of pandemic life, where most of us were forced to stay in our own neighbourhoods, it seems like implementing this idea in as many cities as possible will pay nothing but dividends. But while it’s popular in other parts of the world like many European cities, can we really just cut and paste the idea in Canada?In this episode, we hear from Alain Miguelez, Ottawa’s Manager of Policy Planning, who believes our nation’s capital is ripe for the 15-minute city and explains why he’s working hard to help execute it there.  Plus, we check in with Jay Pitter, an award-winning placemaker and urban planning lecturer, about why she believes there is a crucial — but so far, absent — step necessary for the 15-minute city to actually work in North America.

A deadline to get the COVID-19 jab – or lose their job – is quickly approaching for unvaccinated health care workers in Quebec and British Columbia. Meanwhile, the issue of mandatory vaccinations is also being hotly debated in other provinces such as Ontario. All of this is prompting questions about what could happen to our hospitals and long-term care centres if thousands of workers suddenly aren’t allowed to work?Health columnist André Picard discusses why the anticipated staff shortage may not actually pan out, why now is the time for these kinds of mandates and explores the reasons why thousands of health care workers in Canada remain unvaccinated.

On February 23, 2018, Ulla Theoret was murdered along with her son and her mother by a neighbour who was obsessed with her. More than three years later, an Ontario committee that reviews all cases of intimate partner homicides examined what happened to Ulla and her family and provided some recommendations for the province’s Solicitor General.The review was prompted by national reporter Molly Hayes’s initial investigation and she is on the Decibel to discuss how this case challenges the way authorities think about domestic violence, why unconventional relationships are often overlooked and the red flags that police sometimes miss.

It’s been a busy few days for Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen. On Sunday, the former lead product manager for Facebook’s Civic Misinformation team went public with her criticism of the company in an interview on 60 Minutes. Then on Tuesday, she testified before a U.S. Senate hearing and accused the social media company of putting profits ahead of people and democracy.Now that it’s known that Facebook knew about the addictive nature and harmful effects of its platforms, what should be done about it? Taylor Owen is an associate professor and director of the centre for media technology and democracy at McGill University, where he studies Facebook and other Big Tech companies. He is on The Decibel to unpack what kinds of regulations governments could enact if they want to fix Facebook.

What do blackouts in China, surging natural gas prices in Europe and Asia and renewable energy have to do with each other? They are all wrapped up in a bumpy moment for the global energy supply as economies across the world revved up following a pandemic-induced slowdown.Globe and Mail reporter Jeffrey Jones explains exactly why this pickup in demand has stressed our global supply at this moment, how that’s causing a ripple effect worldwide and what can be done about it to prevent future crunches as we continue to transition away from fossil fuels as our primary source of energy.

In 2018, The Globe’s telecom industry reporter Alexandra Posadzki was hacked via a cell phone scam known as SIM swapping. This allowed the hacker to assume her identity and correspond with her friends and my family. The ordeal left her feeling unsettled and wondering just how common this type of fraud is in Canada.The answers, as Posadzki found out, weren’t readily available. She had to file an access to information request to get the first-ever glimpse into the prevalence of these types of attacks in Canada. She’s on the show to explain what she found out, how you can try to prevent this fraud from happening to you and why there needs to be more transparency around what measures are being taken to stop it.

More than 4,000 care home residents have died in Quebec during the pandemic, but not all were directly due to COVID-19. Some were left to languish – without food, water or basic sanitary care – during the first wave of the pandemic and essentially died of neglect. The most infamous example was a home called Résidence Herron, where 47 of the 139 residents passed away after the home’s staff disappeared once the novel coronavirus struck.A coroner’s inquest that has included public testimony has clarified the details of the tragedies that unfolded and chaos inside these care homes. National reporter Tu Thanh Ha discusses the disastrous chain of events that led to a collapse of care, causing the undignified deaths of many seniors.