The Decibel

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith unveiled a raft of new policies last week that have healthcare professionals warning of dire consequences for young transgender and non-binary people . The proposals will severely restrict when and what kind of gender-affirming care – ranging from medication to surgery – that young people and their families will have access to. Zosia Bielski , national news reporter...

In early January, Florida became the first U.S. state to get approval to import wholesale drugs from Canada. The FDA’s decision overrides decades-long objections from drug companies and could save the state millions of dollars. Now, Colorado is looking to do the same . The Globe’s international correspondent, Nathan VanderKlippe went to Colorado to learn about their plan to bring in cheap drugs fr...

For months now, TD Bank has been making headlines. First there was the news they were acquiring U.S.-based First Horizon Bank . Then the news that that acquisition wasn’t going through . Then the bank announced it was under investigation . And now, thanks to the reporting of Rita Trichur and Stefanie Marotta, we know that a Canadian regulator is also set to levy a penalty against them . Stefanie ,...

A U.S. federal indictment is unsealed and within it are explosive allegations. According to court documents released this week, an assassination plot was constructed between a drug lord, two Canadian Hells Angels members and Iran’s armed forces – aimed at silencing Iranian dissidents living in the U.S. The Globe’s U.S. correspondent Adrian Morrow explains what is known about the case, the people a...

Five hockey players from Canada’s 2018 world junior hockey team have been charged with sexual assault in connection to an event alleged to have taken place in London, Ont., in 2018. Four of them are current NHL players. A woman identified as E.M. sued Hockey Canada in 2022 in relation to the incident, which was settled for $3.55-million. The Globe then reported that Hockey Canada had maintained a...

Online petitions. Angry in-person meetings. An ultimatum. These are just a few of the events that lead to a Canadian play being pulled from Victoria’s Belfry Theatre and Vancouver’s PuSh Festival . The Globe’s theatre critic, J. Kelly Nestruck , explains how this play – The Runner – wound up at the centre of a controversy about a war half a world away. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thede...

Myanmar has been embroiled in a bloody civil war for nearly three years, after the military staged a coup in 2021. The war was stuck in a stalemate but that is changing – the resistance forces have been gaining ground , and Siegfried Modola has been there documenting some of the battles. Modola is a photojournalist and documentary photographer who has been reported on the conflict during several t...

The long-awaited inquiry into foreign interference begins today. The Globe and Mail’s reporting , based on top-secret CSIS documents, of sophisticated strategies by China to disrupt Canada’s democracy and federal elections set off a firestorm. Now, the public is about to learn how the federal government handled this information and what lessons can be learned to fend off actions by foreign states...

Nearly two years on, the federal government’s use of the Emergencies Act against the 2022 convoy protests is still being debated – politically and legally. This week, a Federal Court judge ruled that the Trudeau government’s invocation of the act was unjustified and violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The Globe’s senior political reporter Marieke Walsh explains this latest ruling, how thi...

Cities in Canada pay for most of the services they provide with property taxes . What homeowners are charged in property taxes – and how much that goes up or down with each budget – has become a political statement, as well as a rallying cry for affordability . Urban affairs reporter Oliver Moore gets at the numbers behind the latest property tax hikes across the country , telling us what they’re...

Companies around the world are trying to harness the power of the tides to create a renewable energy source. Canada’s Bay of Fundy is a promising place to do it because it has the highest tides in the world. But turning the tides into energy has proven to be challenging and costly. Matthew MClearn is an investigative reporter and data journalist with The Globe and Mail’s Energy, Natural Resources...

Cases of Invasive Group A Strep infections are on the rise in Canada. It’s an illness with potentially fatal outcomes – four children under 10 have died in British Columbia since mid-December, and six people under the age of 18 died in Ontario in the last three months of 2023. Carly Weeks is a health reporter for the Globe. She’s on the show to talk about how to recognize Invasive Group A Strep in...

On Oct. 23, 2023, five hospitals in southwestern Ontario realized they were under attack. A cybercrime group was hacking them in order to hold patient and employee information hostage. The hack resulted in all of the hospitals shutting down their systems, causing massive delays in care, backlogging tests and requiring some patients to travel for care . Karen Howlett , an investigative reporter at...

Canada’s birth rate is at an almost 20-year low . People are deciding not to have kids for a variety of reasons and the pandemic has only intensified this drop. While Millennials and GenZ’s are saying no to kids, the declining birth rate is leaving their parents with an identity crisis: Baby boomers coming to terms with a future without grandkids. The Globe’s Zosia Bielski recently looked into the...

Canada is one of the fastest growing countries in the world and in 2023, the population officially reached 40 million people. But economists are warning that there’s a price to pay for that growth – that Canada’s living standards and investments in infrastructure aren’t keeping up. Matt Lundy is an economics reporter for the Globe, and he joins the podcast to explain why Canada’s policies have led...

The case of Steven Galloway caused a firestorm when it was first made public, and it continues to this day. Galloway was fired from the University of British Columbia after allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies. The situation divided Canadian authors , and the public more broadly. Now, there’s been a development . The Globe’s Marsha Lederman has reported on this extensively . Today, sh...

Ontario’s Ring of Fire has long been believed to contain critical minerals like nickel, copper and chromite, purportedly worth tens of billions of dollars. But for more than a decade, there has been no development. This is in part because of a long process of assessments and consultations happening, much of which involve First Nations communities who live on the Ring of Fire land. Niall McGee is t...

Snowy season in many parts of Canada is off to a slow start. At the end of December, fewer than half of Whistler Blackcomb’s trails in British Columbia were open due to the lack of snow. And the Prairie provinces are expected to have a milder winter , with below-normal snowfall. While the amount of snow varies from year to year, a new study says snowpack – the volume of snow that is present on the...

There seems to be a lot of illness going around right now. Hospitals are struggling with what the Canadian Medical Association called an “avalanche of patients,” and many of you have questions. Today, The Globe’s health reporter Carly Weeks joins us to explain how this year’s respiratory virus season is shaping up, and she answers your questions about COVID, RSV, the flu, and more. Questions? Comm...

On December 29, South Africa submitted an application with the International Court of Justice claiming that Israel’s offensive in Gaza is “genocidal in character.” The UN’s judicial court is hearing South Africa’s request for provisional measures on Thursday and will hear Israel’s response the next day. Geoffrey York is the Globe’s Africa bureau chief, based in Johannesburg. He explains what was i...

Taiwan , the east Asian country of 24 million people, is ramping up to a pivotal presidential election on January 13. Amidst rising tensions with China, voters are being asked whether their country should have a warmer relationship with Beijing or continue a hardline stance for Taiwanese independence . James Griffiths , The Globe’s Asia correspondent, explains why the answer to that question will...

There’s a conversation happening amongst parents that is drumming up a lot of controversy. It’s around the idea of gentle parenting , which is a catch-all term that generally refers to parents who try to stay calm, place a lot of importance on their child’s emotions and show a lot of physical affection. Dr. Alice Davidson is a professor of developmental psychology at Rollins College, and is one of...

Inflation has been rising, interest rates have accelerated at record pace, and the cost of living has been weighing on us all . Canada’s economy has been flirting with a recession since the start of the pandemic, but we may have avoided the worst of it. So what’s in store for 2024? Will there be any reprieve? The Globe’s economics columnist and reporter David Parkinson is on the show today to tell...

Tensions in the Middle East have heightened in the last week, not just because the war in Gaza continues, but because of four events that have happened in the last week in the region. The Globe’s Senior International Correspondent, Mark MacKinnon , explains what has happened and how it’s ratcheting up geopolitical pressures. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com Hoste...

Plant-based meat has been touted as a way of having our steak and eating it too. The industry had grand plans to remake the way we eat, cut down greenhouse gas emissions in meat and dairy production and address animal welfare concerns. Companies like Beyond Meat and Impossible had a meteoric rise in the late 2010s, with influencers, celebrities and investors backing the companies. But now, it appe...