Shows / The Decibel
The Decibel
Context is everything. Join us Monday to Friday for a Canadian daily news podcast from The Globe and Mail. Explore a story shaping our world, in conversation with reporters, experts, and the people at the centre of the news.
Episodes
The DecibelTrump in China: Iran war, Taiwan and trade tensions
U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to China to meet President Xi Jinping this week is full of jeopardy. From tense talks over trade and tariffs, the role of…
The DecibelThe big business of romance novels
Once relegated to paperback stands in grocery stores, the business of romance novels is hot right now – especially in Canada. In a moment when book sales in…
The DecibelA reality check on hantavirus risk in Canada
This month, the World Health Organization linked a hantavirus outbreak to a cruise ship in the south Atlantic. Since the outbreak, three people have died from…
The DecibelMaking sense of a stock market that doesn’t make sense right now
From trade wars to the war in Iran, there has been a lot of geopolitical tension in the world. This can sometimes cause jitters on the stock market, but that…
The DecibelWhy are drug deaths rising in Edmonton, but falling elsewhere?
Canada has seen a decline in deaths related to drug overdose the past two years. But the reality at the local level is a little more complicated. In some…
The DecibelThe pressure is on for Canada to meet growing energy demand
The war in Iran has radically changed the way that oil and gas moves around the globe. Since the war began, North American energy exports – such as petroleum…
The DecibelSaudi Arabia’s vision for its future is crumbling
Saudi Arabia has spent a decade pouring billions into investments to modernize their finance, entertainment, sports, technology and tourism industries, to help…
The DecibelAlberta separatist campaign faces legal hurdles
This week marked an important milestone in the separatist campaign in Alberta. After months of getting people to sign their petitions to trigger a referendum…
The DecibelWhat does Canada gain by hosting the new global defence bank?
Canada has spent the last year shoring up defence spending. Now a new multilateral financial institution, the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, is being…
The DecibelCanadian professors on how AI is changing education
A big issue hangs over university students and professors, and that’s artificial intelligence. There are some rules and guidelines, but professors are largely…
The DecibelA food economist’s case against public grocery stores
Food affordability remains a priority for many Canadians. This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government unveiled the spring economic update. It included…
The DecibelWhere your money ends up after a scam
Once scammers successfully steal someone’s money, they need a place to stash it. So they are buying verified Canadian bank accounts in order to launder money…
The DecibelTakeaways from the Liberals’ first economic update as a majority
The Liberals’ spring economic update lays out $54-billion in new spending over six years, including $6-billion towards boosting employment in the trades and…
The DecibelThe first Canadian effectively cured of HIV
Only 10 HIV patients worldwide are known to have achieved the milestone of being in prolonged remission. Soon, a Toronto patient will be part of the historic…
The DecibelFirst, the Alberta health scandal. Then the surveillance began
It began with a whistle-blower alleging government interference in Alberta Health Services’ contracting process and its connections to a medical supply…
- The Decibel
INTERSECT/26: John Bolton on Canadian military defence
Globe columnist Andrew Coyne interviews former U.S. ambassador and national security adviser John Bolton at The Globe and Mail’s INTERSECT/26 forum of…
The DecibelThe Alberta government is accused of gerrymandering
The Alberta government is drawing controversy over electoral politics. They’re being accused of gerrymandering – the practice of redrawing voting districts to…
The DecibelDrones and the future of Canada’s military industry
Robotics and drones are now leading the charge in modern warfare, reshaping battlefields in Ukraine and on the Strait of Hormuz. The Canadian military, with…
The DecibelThe next step in Carney’s invest-in-Canada plan
The big sell is on. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has promised to raise $500-billion dollars of private investment over the next five years to…
The DecibelBig changes in Ontario’s education system
Last week, Ontario introduced new legislation proposing sweeping changes to education in the province – from how school boards are managed, to having…
The DecibelThe violent incidents and menacing texts targeting waste giant GFL
For the last year and a half, the talk of construction sites and Bay Street was about a string of violent incidents targeting GFL, the waste management giant…
The DecibelWhy Canadian movies are having a moment
Earlier this year, a report on domestic box office data for 2025 revealed that Canadian films brought in $13.9 million last year. Compared to $23.5-million in…
The DecibelWho are the people hacking hackers?
Ransomware attacks have become more prominent in recent years, with major breaches of hospitals, like Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in 2022, and…
The DecibelMark Carney’s majority moment
More than a year after 2025’s federal election, the Liberal Party now has a majority government. Monday’s federal by-elections – a clean sweep for Liberal…
The DecibelThe future of free trade in North America
The deadline to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement – the agreement that governs free trade in North America, also known as the USMCA – is less…
The DecibelWhat you need to know about taxes as the CRA aims to improve
It’s tax season again, an often tedious time dreaded by many Canadians. But this tax season could be different. After ongoing concerns around slow and…
The DecibelIran’s power grows ahead of peace talks as Gulf remains on edge
On Friday, negotiators from the U.S., Israel and Iran are set to talk in Pakistan about the future of the war. The Gulf Arab states, who have been attacked…
The DecibelGroceries, airfare and EVs: the war is changing how we spend
After the U.S., Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire on Tuesday night, oil prices eased on Wednesday. Many details of the ceasefire remain unclear – including…
The DecibelAnother crucial strait that could strangle the global economy
A lot of attention has been given to the Strait of Hormuz amid Iran’s closure in response to attacks by the U.S. and Israel. But another key strait in the…
The DecibelSaskatchewan’s new massive ‘pink gold’ mine
Australian mining company BHP has made the largest investment in the company’s history in Saskatchewan, opening the province’s biggest potash mine. The…
The DecibelNavigating Canada's fertility industry
A growing number of Canadians are struggling with fertility, and the business helping people make babies is booming. The global fertility services market was…
The DecibelWhy some doctors are critical of B.C.’s new health care regulations
April 1 marked the start of a new regime to regulate health care in B.C. – the first overhaul of the system in 30 years. The Globe’s health reporter and…
The DecibelArtemis II: A Canadian heads to the far side of the moon
April 1st marks the earliest possible date that lunar mission Artemis II could lift off. Decades have passed since humans last visited the moon. After launch…
The DecibelCan Avi Lewis bring the NDP back to life?
On Sunday, the New Democratic Party elected Avi Lewis as its new leader. He takes the reins of a political party still reeling from losses in last year’s…
The DecibelPrediction trading is coming to Canada
Prediction trading is exploding in popularity, with the industry set to rake in about US$2 billion in revenue this year alone. Companies like Kalshi and…
The DecibelTo ban or not to ban: Canadian teens weigh in on social media
This week, decisions in two landmark trials in the U.S. found social media companies responsible for harms to youth on their platforms. They follow years of…
The DecibelHow the war in Iran exposes the limits of China’s influence
Since the U.S. and Israel first attacked Iran almost a month ago, the ripple effects of the war have been felt globally. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz…
The DecibelHow sweeping cuts could impact Canada’s public sector
The federal government is hoping to make room for the new spending outlined in last year’s budget by making cuts across the public sector. The goal is to save…
The DecibelThe trouble with enforcing Canadian food labels
Amid threats of annexation and U.S.-imposed tariffs, Canadians are using their dollars to purchase Canadian goods. However, consumer complaints about products…
The DecibelThe landmark case over rights and freedoms at the Supreme Court
Today, a case involving Quebec’s use of the notwithstanding clause is going before the Supreme Court of Canada. In the last decade, many provinces have used…
The DecibelHow much AI music is in your playlist?
What does it mean to create music? Would you be able to tell if the sounds you were listening to weren’t made or sung by a human? Artists and supporters of the…
The DecibelWhat war in Iran means for Canadian oil
Since the U.S. and Israel started a war with Iran, the price of oil has spiked. That’s largely because oil tankers are no longer travelling through the Strait…
The DecibelWhy holding government to account in Ontario could get harder
Late last week, the Ontario government announced it would introduce legislation exempting the Premier, cabinet ministers and their offices from responding to…
The DecibelBehind schedule and over budget: Why do we keep building LRTs?
Building cities for the future means building a lot more public transit – and lately, Canadian cities have been planning LRTs, or light rail transit. While…
The DecibelAn analysis of Mark Carney’s first year as Prime Minister
It’s been one year since Mark Carney became Prime Minister. He was long known as a technocrat, having held the position of central banker for both Canada and…
The DecibelWhy Israel’s war with Iran is spreading to Lebanon
On February 28th, the US and Israel struck Iran – and Iran fired back at military bases and allies in the region. The war has since dominated global attention…
The DecibelHow the towing industry is linked to police corruption
A wide-scale investigation into police corruption in Ontario – Project South – led to the arrests of 27 people, including seven Toronto Police Services…
The DecibelVoices from the Iranian diaspora in Canada
Members of Canada’s Iranian community have been living through a complex set of emotions since the United States and Israel started a war with Iran nearly two…
The DecibelTumbler Ridge shooting highlights B.C.’s mental health deserts
A month has passed since the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., where eight people were killed by 18-year-old Jesse Van Rootselaar, who then turned the gun…
The DecibelSkinny, Inc. Part 3: Body image in the age of Ozempic
The first episode of Skinny Inc. was all about the science behind GLP-1s, and the second episode was about the business, from the pharmaceutical companies who…
- The Decibel
Why a sleep doctor says we should never change our clocks again
On Sunday, most Canadians lose an hour of sleep as the clocks get turned forward to daylight time. But while most of us have gotten used to the bi-annual time…
The DecibelWhat Canada needs to learn from Alabama
When it comes to one economic indicator, Canada is lagging behind one of the U.S.’s poorest states: Alabama. And while GDP per capita is an imperfect metric of…
The DecibelAfter years of hostility, Carney defrosts relations with India
Prime Minister Mark Carney finished his trip to India this week, marking the start of what he says is a new partnership between the two countries. The…
The DecibelHow the war against Iran is choking global energy supply
Since the U.S. and Israel first struck Iran on Saturday, energy prices have been on the rise. Oil prices are up around 13 per cent, and LNG – liquefied natural…
The DecibelWhat the U.S.-Israel attacks mean for Iranian leadership
The U.S. and Israel are continuing attacks on Iran for the fourth day. Iran’s leadership has been devastated, hundreds have been killed and retaliatory attacks…
The DecibelSkinny, Inc. Part 2: The big business of Ozempic
You can listen to the first episode of this three-part series here. GLP-1 medications to treat diabetes, obesity and several other illnesses have exploded in…
The DecibelThe argument for AI regulation after Tumbler Ridge
Months before the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., earlier this month, the shooter was banned from OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, for violating its…
The DecibelWinners and losers after a year of Trump tariffs
On Tuesday night, U.S. President Donald Trump touted his tariff regime, after a Supreme Court decision that severely limited his ability to impose tariffs. Now…
The DecibelMexico’s uneasy balance of power between cartels and government
On Tuesday, Canadian airlines began to resume operations in Puerto Vallarta and Guadalajara. They had been suspended days earlier after the Mexican army killed…
The DecibelThe payout and relationship that led to crisis at a pension plan
It began with three executives from the CAAT Pension Plan raising concerns over a $1.6-million vacation payout and a relationship between the CEO and an…