The Decibel

The Globe and Mail

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.

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1,335 episodes
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Episodes1335

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Nov 25, 2024 · 24 min
What the GST break means for you
Last Thursday, the Liberals announced a multibillion-dollar plan to help improve the cost of living. It includes a 2-month break from GST on dozens of products and services – from restaurant meals and liquor, to children’s toys and diapers – and a one-time $250 cheque for working Canadians. But it’s unclear exactly how these measures will get through the House of Commons, which has been the site of a months-long stalemate. Today, the Globe’s senior political reporter, Marieke Walsh, is here to
Nov 22, 2024 · 24 min
An experiment in Ontario to improve access to family doctors
There’s an experiment underway in Kingston, Ont. The regional health care team is starting to assign people without a doctor to nearby clinics based on their postal code. And one of those clinics has adopted a different way to serve patients and doctors. It’s called a health home. But is this a feasible solution for an overstressed health care system? Kelly Grant, national health reporter for The Globe and Mail, reports on this new model, how it’s working in Kingston and what it could mean for
Nov 21, 2024 · 24 min
The fandom of Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift starts the second week of her Eras tour in Toronto today. And since the record-breaking tour landed in the city, it’s been the site of Swiftie pandemonium. Tens of thousands have travelled for the concerts, and even a number of out-of-town Swifties without tickets took the trip. The kind of dedication Taylor Swift attracts is rare, even as pop-star fandoms become more fervent. So what’s so special about Taylor Swift? And what sets her fandom apart from others? Niko Stratis is a fr
Nov 20, 2024 · 19 min
Canada’s role in working towards a two-state solution
In the midst of the Israel-Hamas war, the idea of lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians seems farther away than it has been in a long time. But there are still people working to create the conditions for a two-state solution; among those are Canadian troops, working in the West Bank in a mission called Operation Proteus. Claire Porter Robbins is a freelance journalist and former aid worker. She’s on the show to talk about what Canadian soldiers are doing in the West Bank, how the oper
Nov 19, 2024 · 17 min
The Newfoundland town that seized its own church
In the small Newfoundland community of Portugal Cove south, the town church is considered its lifeblood, a community hub and historical touchstone, all rolled into one. But at the end of August, parishioners were told their church would be sold off to help the Roman Catholic Church pay a $104 million settlement. And when locals learned they couldn’t stop the sale, they took matters into their own hands. Today, the Globe’s Atlantic reporter, Lindsay Jones joins the podcast to tell the story of
Nov 18, 2024 · 22 min
How remote work changed our grooming habits
When the pandemic hit, nearly 40 per cent of Canada’s workforce went remote. More than four years later, that number has dropped by more than half. In a moment when bosses push for a return to the office – and workers cling to hybrid schedules – we’re learning just how much remote work has changed our habits, routines … and personal hygiene. Globe reporter Zosia Bielski recently turned her focus to examining our relationship with time: time use at work, unpaid labour and our hours off the clo
Nov 15, 2024 · 32 min
The Decibel presents: Lately
The Decibel presents ‘Lately’, a Globe and Mail podcast taking on shifts in business, tech and economy with newsmakers and thinkers. In this episode, award-winning journalist Luc Rinaldi takes us behind the curtain of Big Tobacco’s machinations to report on how an industry built on addiction is looking to reinvent itself for the wellness age. His cover story on the topic appears in this month’s edition of the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business Magazine. New episodes of ‘Lately’ hosted by Vass
Nov 14, 2024 · 23 min
Toronto’s Taylor Swift Era
After nearly two years of touring across five continents, Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour is coming to Canada. Thursday is the first of six dates in Toronto, and the tour will wrap up with three dates in Vancouver in December. When the Eras Tour rolls through town, money tends to follow; fans and concert-goers spend on merch, hotels, restaurants… and of course, tickets. Tickets make for attractive auction items, and people fundraising for charitable causes have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Nov 13, 2024 · 23 min
Alberta vs. Texas: how two oil giants are taking on clean energy
Alberta and Texas have a lot in common. Both have independent western cultures, great country music, and each lead their countries in oil production. And over the past decade, they’ve both been the unlikely hosts to the multibillion-dollar renewable energy boom – with swaths of the Texas and Alberta energy grids going green. But while Texas becomes a leader, Alberta is changing course. Jeffrey Jones, a Calgary-based reporter with The Globe’s Report on Business, took road trips through both vis
Nov 12, 2024 · 22 min
The complexities of gender in the U.S. election
Before Nov. 5, many pollsters predicted that there would be a huge gender gap in the U.S. election vote, with women overwhelmingly supporting Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and men voting for the Republican choice, Donald Trump. That didn’t quite happen. Fifty three per cent of female voters supported Harris, and 46 per cent voted for Trump. In 2020, 55 per cent of women supported Joe Biden, and Trump only got 43 per cent of the female vote. So what does this mean? Dr. S. Laurel Weldon is
Nov 11, 2024 · 24 min
Murray Sinclair, as remembered by his friend Tanya Talaga
Murray Sinclair died last week at the age of 73. As a trail-blazing judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he spent his life revealing the truth about Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people. Globe columnist Tanya Talaga was a friend of Sinclair’s, and often turned to him for guidance and mentorship. She joins us to reflect on his legacy and the work that’s still to be done.
Nov 8, 2024 · 24 min
How Trump’s pet-eating lie became emblematic of the election
Donald Trump’s path to victory hinged on seven swing states. He won five decisively, and is leading in the final two. Republicans now control the Senate, are on track to control the House, and for the first time since 2004, a Republican president won the popular vote, too. Immigration was one of the key issues among Trump voters — 37 per cent saw it as the most important issue in the election. It was also one of Trump’s biggest talking points at rallies, and crucially, at the September debate w
Nov 7, 2024 · 22 min
The new ‘Rosé All Day’? Stressed moms are microdosing mushrooms
The U.S. Surgeon General recently issued a health advisory saying that 48 per cent of parents with kids under 18 are completely overwhelmed by their stress. Most of those stressed out parents are moms – and some of those moms are turning to microdosing psilocybin to cope. Amberly McAteer is a Toronto-based writer and former editor in The Globe and Mail’s Opinion section. She looked into this trend and explains how parenting now is more stressful than in past generations, and explores what the c
Nov 6, 2024 · 27 min
Inside The Globe’s U.S. election night coverage
The United States have never seen an election like this before. It began as a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, but after Biden’s debate performance back in June, he made the unprecedented move of withdrawing from the race. Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in to become the Democratic nominee, and the second debate in September looked a lot different. Results trickled in last night for this nail biter of an election, with the outcome hinging on seven swing states. The 2024 U.S. pr
Nov 5, 2024 · 22 min
The fight over clean energy jobs in a crucial U.S. swing state
The Inflation Reduction Act was passed after a contentious fight in the U.S. Congress, narrowly passing along partisan lines. The bill committed almost US$370-billion in tax credits and spending by the federal government on clean energy projects. It has become one of the Biden administration’s signature legislative wins. And yet, it hasn’t really been mentioned in this year’s presidential campaign. The Globe’s climate policy analyst Adam Radwanski wanted to understand why. So he travelled to Ge
Nov 4, 2024 · 21 min
A standoff in Parliament and the latest on Trudeau’s future
For more than a month, the government has not been able to pass any legislation. The House of Commons has been at a standstill, as they debate whether the Liberal government breached Parliamentary privilege. The Globe’s senior politics reporter Marieke Walsh talks about why the House has been unable to put this debate to rest, and why that’s leading to no movement in the House. She also catches us up on the latest news around Trudeau’s leadership of the Liberal Party and what the Bloc Québecois
Nov 1, 2024 · 27 min
The story of a secret mission to save more than 1,500 Afghans
Dr. Farouq Samim cried as the Taliban swept back into power in 2021. While he was safe in Ottawa, many members of his family were stranded – and at risk of death – back in Afghanistan. Determined to do something, he paired up with two lawyers he didn’t know to launch a secret mission: Operation Abraham. The Globe’s International Affairs reporter, Janice Dickson, got inside access on how this rescue effort ended up saving over 1,500 people over three years despite bureaucratic hurdles and increa
Oct 31, 2024 · 17 min
Floods, storms, rising sea levels — why do we build on the coast?
In 2019, Nova Scotia’s then-Liberal government passed the Coastal Protection Act — legislation that would have brought in regulations around building near the coast. In 2021, the Conservatives were voted into power, and it sounded like they were keen to keep the Act in place. But in February 2024, Nova Scotia’s government announced that they wouldn’t. Instead, the responsibility for regulating coastal development would be downloaded onto municipalities, and in some cases, even homeowners. Matt
Oct 30, 2024 · 20 min
Behind Canada’s explosive allegations against India
On October 14, the RCMP shared explosive allegations linking Indian government officials to homicides, extortions and coercion committed against Canadians, on Canadian soil. The RCMP said 30 people had been charged so far, and Ottawa announced it was expelling 6 Indian diplomats. Since the escalation, The Globe has learned the lengths Ottawa and the RCMP went to, to avoid worsening tensions between the countries. The Globe’s Ottawa Bureau Chief, Robert Fife, takes us inside the behind-the-s
Oct 29, 2024 · 24 min
Riding the Greyhound through America’s swing states
The U.S. election is a week away, and tensions are running high. Polls show Harris and Trump as more or less deadlocked. America’s Electoral College means the presidency is won one state at a time — and in a country that vast, it’s hard to capture the nuances of the race in the snapshot of a poll. That’s why the Globe’s feature writer, Ian Brown, got on a Greyhound bus in downtown Los Angeles, and headed east for New York City. He and photographer Barbara Davidson traveled from the deserts of t