The Decibel

Hundreds of people are sick and dozens are in the hospital in Calgary, after one of Canada’s worst outbreaks of E.Coli in kids ever. Some cases have left children hospitalized, leaving parents scared, frustrated and angry . Dave McGinn has been following the outbreak for The Globe. Today, he’ll tell us what warning signs might have been missed from the kitchen suspected to be at the centre of the...

Enbridge Inc. has become North America’s largest natural gas utility after acquiring three U.S. utilities for US$9.4-billion dollars . It’s a big bet on the role that natural gas is going to play in the future as governments try to transition the economy off of fossil fuels. Emma Graney is The Globe and Mail’s energy reporter. She has been covering the deal and explains how this fits into the wide...

The COVID-19 fall surge is upon us. But this year it’s different. Cases are rising again in Canada, reversing a trend from when cases were decreasing for most of 2023. And once again, there are new variants circulating. The Globe’s National Health Reporter Kelly Grant explains why we’re seeing a rise, what the Canadian government and public health experts say we should do about it, including when...

Most people in Canada haven’t been able to view or post news content on Facebook or Instagram for over a month now. That’s because Meta – the company that owns both platforms – is protesting a new law that aims to get big tech companies to pay for news content appearing on its feeds. But this move isn’t without precedent. In 2021, Meta also blocked news in Australia because of similar legislation....

Tamara Lich and Chris Barber were at the forefront of the convoy protest that rolled into Ottawa on Jan. 29, 2022. As leaders, they encouraged supporters blocking the downtown to both ‘hold the line’ and protest peacefully. On Feb. 17, 2022, they were arrested . Now they are standing trial for their actions. Kristy Kirkup is a parliamentary reporter for the Globe and she went to the first week of...

In 2012, nine out of 10 students at Kitchener’s Conestoga College were domestic. Today, they have more international students than any institution across the country … almost as many as the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia combined. This year, Canada is on track to bring in 900,000 international students. Globe postsecondary reporter Joe Friesen joins us to discuss how...

This year’s wildfire season has broken all kinds of records – including on emissions . Canada’s wildfires have doubled previous records for greenhouse gas emissions – and they’ve caused more emissions than all of Canada’s industries combined. Dr. Werner Kurz , a senior research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service, explains how these wildfires are changing Canada’s forests , what it means fo...

It’s back-to-school week for young people across the country. And despite bringing back full in-class learning three years since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, students continue to experience and report mental-health issues. Dr. Deinera Exner-Cortens is an associate professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary. She is going to talk to us about how we can be better at...

Small business owners are, on average, older than the Canadian population. That means that in the next ten years 75% of them are retiring , according to estimates from the federal government. So what happens to their businesses? Chris Hannay covers small business for the Globe and he joins us to discuss how these retirements could lead to a wave of consolidation of enterprise in Canada. Questions?...

Collagen supplements are marketed as a holy grail anti-aging product. Bovine collagen is made from cattle hides, and a new investigation from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism traced the supply chain of some collagen companies all the way to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon. Elisângela Mendonça is a London-based Brazilian journalist with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Her report...

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has a clear housing goal. He wants to build 1.5 million new homes in 10 years. To accomplish this, his government has been looking at selling off the land under its possession, such as the Greenbelt , which has been engulfed in scandal . Now his government is looking at the lands owned by school boards across the province. Globe and Mail reporter Karen Howlett explains wh...

Moammar Gadhafi, former Libyan dictator, has had billions sitting in Canadian bank accounts for almost 12 years after his death. This has caused further investigations and questions in terms of what this means for the Canadian banking sector. Rita Trichur is The Globe’s Senior Business Writer and Columnist joins us to discuss Gadhafi, his family, and all of his money sitting in Canadian banks. Que...

On Monday, Montreal police said the Old Montreal fire that killed seven people in March 2023 is now being treated as a criminal investigation . Alongside police looking into persons of interest in the case, the Globe’s Montreal-based reporter Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel reported on the many safety violations in the burned-out building that Montreal and Quebec officials had known about for more than a...

Tibet used to be a prominent focus of international attention, but that isn’t the case anymore as less and less information comes out of the region. But things are still very difficult for Tibetans as China cracks down. The Dalai Lama – who is the spiritual leader of Tibet – is 88, and there are concerns about what will happen for Tibet and its people when he eventually dies . Today, The Globe’s J...

There are a lot of serious storms these days, and those storms are causing more and more damage , as residents of California are seeing this week in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Hilary . The storms we are seeing in Canada are changing – but not how you might expect. David Sills, a severe storms specialist and executive director of the Northern Tornadoes Project at Western University, explains w...

Back in July , a former RCMP officer was charged with conducting foreign interference on behalf of China. We now know more about what the RCMP is accusing this officer of doing. And it involves a real estate tycoon, a “hired gun”, and a campaign called Operation Fox Hunt . Steven Chase , senior parliamentary reporter for the Globe, explains. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globe...

Canada needs a lot of housing – and the Liberal government is making this a priority at their cabinet retreat this week. But there are concerns that if we keep building new homes using current materials and practices, it could lead to a spike in our greenhouse gas emissions. Luigi Ferrara is the chair and CEO of the Brookfield Sustainability Institute, which looked into this issue . Today, he tell...

As wildfires rage on across the country, more than 50,000 people have been forced out of their homes in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories and West Kelowna in British Columbia within the past week. And each one of those people have had to make life-changing decisions: Should you leave your home? What do you take with you? What might you never see again? Today, we hear those stories from Cana...

Fears of a recession have been looming since the worst days of the pandemic. And as inflation continues its slow but steady ascent, central banks around the world have tried to increase interest rates to cool things down. It’s easy to think that all of this means we might actually have avoided the worst. But Report on Business columnist and reporter Tim Kiladze says it’s too early to declare victo...

Journalist Connie Walker has been reporting on Indigenous stories for most of her career. From missing and murdered women to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, she has covered on some of the biggest stories in Canada in the last few decades. But it wasn’t until last year that she decided to look into her own family’s past.  The urge to dig into her deceased father’s past appeared after her b...

Elective egg freezing is on the rise in Canada. Fertility clinics pitch it as a kind of insurance policy: put your eggs in the bank now, and you can come back for them later, when you’re ready to have a baby. But the procedure is invasive, expensive, and doesn’t guarantee a successful pregnancy later on. Alison Motluk, freelance journalist and writer of the newsletter, Hey Reprotech , is on the sh...

In the early hours of July 22, chaos was erupting in Nova Scotia. Rain was pouring down, causing intense flooding . People were panicked about whether to stay or leave their homes. Emergency crews were overwhelmed. In the end, four people died in the floods. A series of radio calls made between one volunteer fire department and the emergency dispatch provide a glimpse into when and how things unfo...

It has been five years since the legalization of cannabis in Canada but we still know very little about health impacts from cannabis smoke. Almost no research has been done, despite government promises, so scientists and experts say we need more data so consumers can make an informed decision. Jameson Berkow is a reporter for the Globe who has covered the cannabis industry extensively. He’s on the...

On Wednesday, Ontario’s Auditor-General, Bonnie Lysyk released an investigative report into the province’s decision to open up 3,000 hectares of its protected Greenbelt area for development. The Ford government claims this will be beneficial for the housing crisis but her report found that they have a different agenda. Jeff Gray is a Queen’s Park reporter for The Globe and Mail and he will be talk...

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...