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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Jun 22, 2022 · 21 min
What to know about monkeypox’s spread
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 bea
Jun 21, 2022 · 23 min
Why protecting the Amazon can be deadly
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 v
Jun 20, 2022 · 18 min
What the government can do to fix inflation
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 Liber
Jun 17, 2022 · 21 min
Rescuing the most vulnerable in Ukraine’s eastern region
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.
Jun 16, 2022 · 20 min
Panic at the crypto
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
Jun 15, 2022 · 18 min
The front line defence against floods that no one’s fixing
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
Jun 14, 2022 · 19 min
Where development clashes with conservation
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 Canad
Jun 13, 2022 · 15 min
Divulging salaries can help shrink the pay gap
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 c
Jun 10, 2022 · 17 min
Swan Lake and the future of ballet
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 wor
Jun 9, 2022 · 16 min
Why we can’t air condition our way out of extreme heat
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
Jun 8, 2022 · 17 min
How Boris Johnson survives scandal after scandal
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
Jun 7, 2022 · 22 min
Why the Nova Scotia shooter wasn't stopped by police sooner
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,
Jun 6, 2022 · 16 min
Inside Canada’s music industry with rapper Cadence Weapon
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 ind
Jun 3, 2022 · 19 min
‘Leaving the door open’ for rehabilitating mass murderers
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
Jun 2, 2022 · 23 min
Depp v. Heard and what it means for #MeToo
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
Jun 1, 2022 · 19 min
Putting a federal disability benefit back on the table
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 ar
May 31, 2022 · 16 min
Why people are hitting unsubscribe on streaming platforms
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 subscrip
May 30, 2022 · 16 min
Why birds sing
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 bi
May 27, 2022 · 22 min
How archaeologists look for unmarked graves in Indigenous communities
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.
May 26, 2022 · 18 min
Why guns are so tied to American identity
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