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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Oct 29, 2021 · 17 min
Is there a point to the COP26 climate summit without China’s Xi?
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 at
Oct 28, 2021 · 21 min
New ministers, new ministries and new priorities for Trudeau’s government?
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 Dec
Oct 27, 2021 · 20 min
What to do about sexual misconduct in Canada’s military
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
Oct 26, 2021 · 20 min
COVID-19 vaccines for kids are almost here. Are we ready?
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,
Oct 25, 2021 · 21 min
A family-fuelled drama within Rogers
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 Roger
Oct 22, 2021 · 18 min
The cowboy culture of cryptocurrency
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 fr
Oct 21, 2021 · 19 min
How a Dave Chappelle comedy special led to a staff walkout at Netflix
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
Oct 20, 2021 · 19 min
Why Alberta voted on changing the Constitution
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 a
Oct 19, 2021 · 15 min
Iqaluit’s contaminated water
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
Oct 18, 2021 · 15 min
What happened to the pandemic baby boom?
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 s
Oct 15, 2021 · 19 min
The legacy of an ISIS 'fanboy'
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 poli
Oct 14, 2021 · 18 min
Why don’t people want to work at restaurants?
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 u
Oct 13, 2021 · 21 min
The federal parties regroup before the next Parliament
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.
Oct 12, 2021 · 29 min
City Space: Should all Canadian cities be 15-minute cities?
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 n
Oct 8, 2021 · 18 min
The debate over mandating COVID-19 vaccines for health care workers
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
Oct 7, 2021 · 16 min
What a triple murder-suicide tells us about the missed red flags in domestic violence cases
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 aut
Oct 6, 2021 · 19 min
How to fix Facebook
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 don
Oct 5, 2021 · 17 min
Brace yourself for an expensive winter: Explaining the energy crunch
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 crunc
Oct 4, 2021 · 18 min
SIM Swapping, port fraud and the dangers to your identity
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 at
Oct 1, 2021 · 20 min
Why nursing homes in Quebec crumbled under COVID-19′s first wave
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 c