The Decibel

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 o...

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 are...

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 Haye...

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 th...

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...

In 2018, The Globe’s telecom industry reporter Alexandra Posadzk i 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...

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 disappe...

As Canada marks the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation , we remember its origin in Orange Shirt Day , and explore how to meaningfully measure progress toward reconciliation. One way: The Canadian Reconciliation Barometer , developed by Indigenous and non-Indigenous researchers . Katherine Starzyk is a psychology professor at the University of Manitoba and principal investigator on the...

Marie Henein is one of Canada’s most famous criminal defence lawyers. Her successful career is highlighted by her representation of well-known clients most notably, former CBC host Jian Ghomeshi. This has also made her a polarizing figure. Defending Ghomeshi against sexual assault charges – which he was acquitted thanks to her work – garnered public backlash. She was even accused of being a traito...

After spending more than a 1,000 days in Chinese detention, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor arrived back in Canada on Saturday. Just hours earlier, Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who was arrested in Vancouver’s airport in 2018 on charges related to violating U.S. sanctions, returned to China after a deal was reached with U.S. prosecutors. These events signal a swift and dramatic end to what has...

There’s a four-lane bridge that separates Del Rio, Texas from Acuña, Mexico. As far as border crossings go, it’s not that remarkable. But until this Friday , the scene had looked more like a refugee camp for most of September as thousands of migrants gathered there with hopes of getting into the United States. The Globe’s Nathan Vanderklippe went to visit the migrant camp at this spot along the U....

What do you do when your depression doesn’t respond to traditional treatments? Especially when that depression is severe and causes suicidal thoughts? For author Anna Mehler Paperny , that meant turning to ketamine. Often thought of as just a party drug, evidence for the use of ketamine as a treatment for depression is growing. Anna details her journey navigating the new treatment as a patient, ex...

China’s second-largest property developer, Evergrande, owes about US$300-billion in liabilities , sparking fears that the property developer could default. But would Beijing allow such a huge company to fail? The Globe’s Asia correspondent James Griffiths explains how Evergrande became a behemoth in a real estate market overrun with speculation, and why its current trouble started partly because o...

There is a reckoning happening on campus at Western University. The London, Ont., post-secondary institution is reeling after allegations that young women were drugged and sexually assaulted started spilling out over social media following its orientation week earlier this month. Now the university is pledging to do something, not just to make students feel safer on campus but to address the under...

Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada won their third straight election , but failed to capture a majority mandate in Canada’s 44th federal election. By early Tuesday morning, the results nearly mirrored the seat count when parliament was dissolved. So now the question that is being asked is: Was the campaign worth it? Political columnist and writer at-large John Ibbitson and parliamentar...

One hundred and eighty two. That’s how many COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit (ICU) beds at the peak of Alberta’s third wave in May. But after a summer of no restrictions, that number is now beyond 200. And it is going to climb; public officials are nearly certain about that. Alberta Bureau Chief James Keller is on the show to explain how the province wound up here, why vaccination rat...

At the start of the federal election campaign, we asked the three major federal party leaders to come on the show. Conservative leader Erin O’Toole’s team declined, and we never heard back from Liberal leader Justin Trudeau. But this week, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh said yes, and from his tour bus between campaign stops, we asked him about his party’s plans to protect people from the effects of clim...

For the first time, all four major federal parties have credible climate plans. And there is even some agreement between them. For example, they all want to invest in electric vehicles, develop battery supply chains and transition to a greener economy . But where do they differ? And whose plans are the most realistic according to experts? And will any of them actually hit their greenhouse gas emis...

In scenes that have baffled many across the country, groups of people have been protesting COVID-19 legislation outside hospitals. Despite the fact that healthcare workers have nothing to do with lockdowns or vaccine mandates, they are still being targeted by these demonstrations. Globe health reporter Andrea Woo went to one of these protests in Vancouver this week and is on the show today to disc...

The increasing price of everything from cell phone bills to housing to child care can feel overwhelming. And when a federal election rolls around, it’s a chance for politicians of all parties to vie for votes by pledging to make life more affordable for Canadians. So who is promising what in this election? And what do the experts think about their solutions? Report on Business reporter Mark Rendel...

Mohammed Sharif Sharaf and Mukhtar Amiri worked for The Globe in Afghanistan alongside our correspondents. Between them, their work for the newspaper spans a decade, and included translating, arranging interviews, reporting trips and helping Globe reporters safely navigate a country at war. When the Taliban took back Afghanistan in August, Sharif and Mukhtar knew that work put them – and their ent...

Omar Mouallem was just a kid growing up in High Prairie, Alberta when the World Trade Center in New York was brought down by two commercial airplanes hijacked by members of the terrorist group al-Qaeda, killing almost 3,000 people. Now a journalist and author, Omar explores how the events of that day shaped his own relationship to his Muslim heritage, and about his journey to mosques and Muslim co...

With less than two weeks to go, the federal election campaign is heating up with two official election debates back-to-back. While Jagmeet Singh’s NDP have gained ground, polling suggests the Conservatives’ popularity have tied them with Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. Writer-at-large and political columnist John Ibbitson has been on the campaign trail with Erin O’Toole, and tells us how the leader has...

Women were hit harder than men by layoffs during the pandemic, and those who were caregivers or parents and kept working had to contend with COVID-19 outbreaks in long-term care and schools. Online learning, runny noses and COVID-19 scares all meant that kids stayed home more, often on short notice. This made remote work necessary for many parents and the burden fell disproportionately on women ....

Even before COVID-19, one in five kids in Canada met the diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder. Since school closures, lockdowns, job loss, and of course the illness and death caused by the pandemic, children’s mental health has gotten even worse. Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt is co-author of a report from the Royal Society of Canada that explains what we know about the effects of school closures on...