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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1,334 episodes
Updated Friday

Episodes1334

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Nov 26, 2021 · 15 min
The unsolved mystery of vandalism at movie theatres in Ontario
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
Nov 25, 2021 · 14 min
The flooding and rebuilding of B.C.'s farms
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 h
Nov 24, 2021 · 16 min
Infighting in the Conservative Party as Parliament resumes
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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Nov 23, 2021 · 15 min
What Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai’s disappearance means for the Beijing Olympics
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 a
Nov 22, 2021 · 15 min
How Tik Tok made spotting intimate partner violence go viral
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 h
Nov 19, 2021 · 18 min
The refugees caught in a political chess game
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
Nov 18, 2021 · 15 min
Pushing back against America’s protectionism
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 ma
Nov 17, 2021 · 16 min
Understanding the extreme flooding in B.C.
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.
Nov 16, 2021 · 16 min
Lessons from the life of Lee Maracle
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.
Nov 15, 2021 · 16 min
Why $4 treaty payments haven’t changed in 146 years
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 stil
Nov 12, 2021 · 20 min
What we learned when the world went quiet
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. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Nov 11, 2021 · 18 min
Remember who we left behind in Afghanistan
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
Nov 10, 2021 · 15 min
Why you might be paying more for dairy soon
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 th
Nov 9, 2021 · 16 min
An inside look into how deals are made at COP26
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
Nov 8, 2021 · 16 min
The Supreme Court debates condoms and consent
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.
Nov 5, 2021 · 19 min
The reality of life in Canada for international students
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 s
Nov 4, 2021 · 17 min
B.C.’s new plan to stop old-growth logging
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
Nov 3, 2021 · 16 min
Are worries about inflation inflated?
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.
Nov 2, 2021 · 18 min
A social worker’s 14-year fight against discrimination in child services
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 feder
Nov 1, 2021 · 18 min
COP26 is under way – here’s what’s at stake
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 –