The Decibel

In case you missed it: listen to Menaka’s conversation with columnists Robyn Urback and John Ibbitson about the Conservative Party’s new leader, Pierre Poilievre. They explore what Poilievre’s win says about the Conservative party, what Poilievre stands for and how other federal parties will have to respond to counter his popularity. This is a recording of a live event broadcast on Twitter Spaces...

Plasma is a critical part of some medicines but Canada currently only gets 15 per cent of its supply from Canadians. That means we’re dependent on the paid-plasma international market for 85 per cent of it.  So to secure a domestic supply, the Canadian Blood Services has reversed course on its historic position of only administering a voluntary donation system and signed a deal with for-profit Spa...

The Conservative Party of Canada will announce a new leader on Saturday evening. This comes after more than half a year of campaigning. Scott Aitchison, Roman Baber, Jean Charest, Leslyn Lewis and Pierre Poilievre were all competing for the job, but it’s widely expected that Pierre Poilievre will win the race. The Globe’s writer-at-large and longtime political columnist, John Ibbitson explains why...

Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday at the age of 96. She was on the throne for 70 years, making her the longest-reigning British monarch in history. Her rule was marked by modernizing the monarchy, increased philanthropy, timeless fashion and the occasional joke. While the Queen was widely beloved, the popularity of the monarchy has been waning here in Canada and elsewhere. Vicky Mochama , royals...

A federal law banning single-sports betting was reversed last year through Bill C-218, leading to a proliferation of sports betting companies operating in Canada – along with an explosion in sports betting ads on social media, billboards, and in televised sports games . Ben Mussett looked into how this change comes at a time when other countries, like the U.K., have decided to curb sports betting...

Two days after a stabbing rampage in Saskatchewan, police are still looking for Myles Sanderson, who, along with his brother Damien, are suspected of killing 10 people and injuring 18 others . On Monday the RCMP confirmed that Damien Sanderson was found dead. The attacks happened in 13 different locations on the James Smith Cree Nation and in the nearby town of Weldon. The Globe’s Alanna Smith vis...

As of Aug. 15, nearly 170,000 study permit applications were pending with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada. Although plans have been made to get many of these students to the start of their classes on time, many might have to be kept waiting. Will Tao is an immigration lawyer based in British Columbia who focuses on international student study permits. He tells us why we’re seeing so m...

If we want great cities, people from all walks of life need to be able to live in them. But even with experts predicting that rising interest rates will drive national housing prices down by as much as 23 per cent by the end of this year, most of us would still consider those adjusted prices totally unaffordable. While most of the housing crisis  conversation has centered on supply — just build bu...

If you have three or more alcoholic drinks in a week , you’re putting your health at risk. That’s according to a new report from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction (CCSA). The government of Canada’s current recommendations are more than a decade old. Armed with new information from almost 6,000 studies, the CCSA is proposing an update to Canada’s low-risk drinking guidelines. Dr....

Kelp has traditionally been harvested for food, but we’re discovering other new ways we could be using kelp as well … like in packaging, to replace plastics, or even in animal feed to reduce the methane released by cows. National correspondent Wendy Stueck went out on a kelp harvest , and tells us why kelp farming could help coastal communities’ green economies, and be used as an innovative and su...

As of Sept. 1, sugar sweetened beverages like pops, iced teas and energy drinks in Newfoundland and Labrador will be a bit more expensive. The province is bringing in a sugar tax, and it is controversial. The government says the goal is to make its residents healthier, as the province has some of the highest rates of diabetes and obesity in the country. Opponents say that the tax will only impact...

An explosion rocked downtown Wheatley, Ontario last year, injuring 20 people, destroying property and terrifying residents and shaking buildings kilometres away. The cause is assumed to be an “orphan” natural gas well tucked away near a building’s basement, one of many thousands left behind after the last 150 years of oil and gas drilling in Ontario. And while not all orphan wells have been uncove...

Your boss wants you back in the office, but after two years of remote work, you’re not sure you want to go. Whether you measure the cost in time or money, going back to work can be pricey. Many Canadians have grown to love their work from home lifestyle, and they’re eager to keep it. In the first episode of our new season, we hear from a 20-something who’s job-hunting because his employer is askin...

In April , the federal government announced that it would expand Canada’s Temporary Foreign Worker Program to allow employers to hire even more low-wage workers from abroad. The move is designed to help ease some of the labour shortages in a number of sectors. Advocates for migrant workers argue that the TFW program allows employers to exploit migrant workers because the person’s employment is tie...

When Hudson’s Bay Company announced last week that it’s bringing back the discount store Zellers, people flocked to social media to share their memories of Zeddy the mascot, of the Zeller’s diner, and the Zeddy ride. HBC is hoping that nostalgia translates into foot traffic and dollars. The company is trying to modernize and stay relevant in a climate where department stores are shuttering. The Gl...

Germany’s energy crisis could worsen as temperatures dip and Russia threatens to cut off the pipeline delivering natural gas to the country. So German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has come to Canada for a three-day visit, expected to end in a green energy deal signed by both Scholz and Prime Minister Trudeau in Stephenville, Newfoundland on Tuesday. Claudia Scholz , a business reporter at Germany’s busi...

Dr. Alika Lafontaine is the Canadian Medical Association’s new president, and an anesthesiologist. He takes on the job at a time when emergency rooms are buckling across the country . Nurse shortages are persisting. Backlogs are still jamming up hospitals. And the pandemic hasn’t relented . So now politicians are scrambling to figure out ways to quickly fortify health care systems that have been c...

Most people buy homes with their partners or by themselves. But others are ditching the traditional paradigm. Today, we’re talking about unconventional homebuyers: family members, friends and others that team up to get into the property market. We hear from two sisters who are trying to buy a house together – and who are struggling to get into the market even after joining forces. Plus, Roma speak...

A study from the University of Copenhagen looked at billions of records taken from sleep-tracking wristbands across 68 countries suggests that people are already losing 44 hours of sleep a year because of hot nights. And with record-breaking temperatures happening more frequently because of climate change, Kelton Minor , lead author of the study, tells us the extent of this problem, who is most af...

Recent visits to Taiwan by U.S. House Rep. Nancy Pelosi and a delegation of five U.S. lawmakers earlier this week have set the stage for rising tensions in the Taiwan strait. Beijing claims Taiwan as its own territory and sees U.S. visits as encouragement for Taiwan’s pro-independence movement. But there’s a crucial industry on the self-governing island critical to both China, the U.S. and the ent...

You’re never far from a parasite, no matter where you are. They’re responsible for illnesses like malaria that cause death around much of the world; the word itself is a derogatory term for something freeloading and disgusting. They’re also very important to the health of ecosystems. Parasite ecologist and University of Washington associate professor Chelsea Wood makes her case for parasite conser...

The CEOs of the 100 largest Canadian companies listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange saw their compensation go up 23 per cent in 2021 . Some chief executives took home pay packages that were valued around in the tens of millions of dollars or more. So how do boards of these publicly-traded companies decide on these huge sums? And what do the shareholders of these companies think of it all? David Mi...

Today we're bringing you an episode of City Space, a Globe and Mail podcast about how to make our cities better, hosted by Adrian Lee. Cities are filled with seemingly endless options when it comes to food. But we’re also increasingly disconnected from what we eat and how it makes its way to our plate. In this episode, we’re taking a look at how the pandemic has given us the opportunity to rethink...

With so many ups and downs in headlines and our personal lives, what often brings us together is food. Food has a way of supporting, nurturing and healing. To explore the depths of how food connects us, we cook with chef and author Suzanne Barr . Barr teaches us how to make her famous Caribbean curry chicken and reflects on how the dish that’s so close to her heart helped launch her cooking career...

Potatoes! They’re affordable, accessible, ultra-versatile, and most importantly, delicious. But a case of potato warts found on two farms in Prince Edward Island last November has wreaked havoc on the local potato economy . The wart led the Canadian government to restrict exports of all P.E.I. potatoes to the U.S. for months. Even though potato warts aren’t unsafe to eat, over 300 million pounds o...