The Decibel

Canada’s facing a stressed health care system , persistent inflation and a fraught geopolitical scene . Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne looks at the big issues that will likely be facing the federal government in 2023 and what this means for leaders Justin Trudeau, Pierre Poilievre and Jagmeet Singh, and the possibility of a federal election. Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecib...

Shopify began this year announcing to its workers that meetings of more than two employees were banned. Slack channels that were not work-related – the online equivalent of a water cooler and its associated chit-chat – had been deleted. Those changes, along with last year’s sweeping layoffs and the company’s new product offerings, are part of an attempt to bring Shopify back to its glory days, jus...

2022 was a pretty turbulent year financially, with sky-high inflation, interest rates and housing prices. So you might be looking at the coming year and thinking about how to protect your finances against whatever 2023 might bring. The Globe’s personal finance reporter, Erica Alini , recently wrote a MoneySmart Bootcamp newsletter to help people get a better handle on their money. Today, we talk t...

Since China abandoned its COVID-zero policies , the country has seen a dramatic outbreak of infections. But exactly how bad things are remains murky, as contradictory reports of cases and deaths emerge . But other countries are reacting nonetheless; Canada and others have put new travel restrictions on people arriving from China. There are fears that the rate of infection and the size of China’s p...

Ozempic and other semaglutide drugs have been hailed as a very effective treatment for obesity, but shortages, affordability and doctors’ willingness to prescribe it are still keeping people who might benefit from it off the drug. Health reporter Carly Weeks explains how the drug works and how it may force our society to rethink how we perceive obesity. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thed...

Some animals survive harsh winter conditions by completely freezing and thawing in spring, like the wood frog. Researchers are looking to harness these abilities for humans – particularly for organ transplants. Shannon Tessier is an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and an investigator at the Center for Engineering in Medicine and Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital. She tells us...

What started as a protest against vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers turned into a catch-all occupation of pent-up pandemic grievances. By the time it was over, hundreds of people were arrested, Ottawa’s police chief resigned, and the Emergencies Act had been invoked for the first time ever. Today, we look back at how this story dominated headlines throughout the year, from the first...

As part of our picks of the top stories of 2022, we are re-airing this episode about a woman documenting the destruction of the war in Ukraine. This episode originally aired on March 2. Maria Avdeeva is the research director of the European Expert Association , which analyzes Russian disinformation. With the sound of Russia’s attack in the background, Maria explains what’s happening in her hometow...

As part of our picks of the top stories of 2022, we are re-airing this episode on the Pope’s visit to Canada and the Doctrine of Discovery, which originally aired on July 25. Many Indigenous people would like the Pope to publicly renounce the Doctrine of Discovery . Bruce McIvor is one of them. He is a lawyer, a historian and the author of Standoff: Why Reconciliation Fails Indigenous People and H...

As part of our picks of the top stories of 2022, we are re-airing this episode on inflation, which originally aired on April 20. With inflation eating into people’s bank accounts, some people are starting to wonder: Hey, is my paycheque shrinking? And according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, it is . Economics reporter Matt Lundy explains how inflation is resultin...

As part of our picks of the top stories of 2022, we are re-airing this episode about one of the top songs of the year. This episode originally aired on January 24. There are two kinds of people in this world: those who have ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ stuck in their head, and those who don’t … yet. The Disney song is a viral sensation and unexpected hit from the 2021 film Encanto . Michael Birenba...

Ranging from childhood phone calls, to serenading strangers, to feasting on the darkest day of the year, we explore how traditions help connect us and celebrate the season. To end the year, we wanted to take a break from the endless cycle of bad news and share with you a series of stories about holiday traditions. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com Hosted by Simple...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington on Wednesday. It’s his first known time outside of Ukraine since Russia invaded more than 300 days ago. He’s meeting with President Joe Biden, national security officials and addressing Congress. It’s a bid to shore up more weapons and money in order to fight the ongoing war. The meeting comes at a time where Russian aerial attacks on Uk...

Newcomers are turning to YouTube to learn about everyday life in places like Moncton NB, Kamloops B.C. or Swift Current, Sask. Canada’s goal of bringing in 500,000 new permanent residents every year by 2025 has a focus on settling new immigrants in small towns and different regions of the country – Instead of just the big city centres – and 2021 census data shows that shift is already happening. S...

On Sunday evening, five residents of a high-rise condo building in Vaughan, ON were shot and killed . A 73-year-old gunman was also shot and killed by police. Court documents reveal that the shooter had a years-long history of legal disputes with the condo board. Police said three of the people killed were members of the board. The Globe’s Dustin Cook tells us what we know so far about what happen...

In the community of Gaultois, Newfoundland, an upcoming vote will determine whether to keep receiving government services, or take a payout to relocate to the mainland, leaving behind their homes and dramatic beauty of their small island town . Greg Mercer , the Globe’s Atlantic Canada reporter, tells us about the history of resettlement in Newfoundland, and how the people of Gaultois feel about d...

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $800-million in funding for Indigenous-led conservation efforts at COP15, the biodiversity conference happening in Montreal. The Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area and national park is considered a success story in Indigenous-led conservation. It was established in 2019 after decades of discussion and negotiation between the federal and territorial gove...

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday. U.S. prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy. He’s now in a Bahamian prison and could be extradited to the U.S. The company was founded in 2019 and went from being worth US$32-billion to bankrupt in mid-November. Along the way, FTX built up a lot of hype and...

Neil Doef was 17 when his life changed. As a promising young hockey player, he was competing at an international tournament when he was paralyzed. For the last seven years, he has been engaged in a lawsuit trying to get financial help from Hockey Canada and its insurer. Grant Robertson , senior writer for The Globe and Mail, shares Neil’s story and addresses the questions Neil’s case raises about...

With its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, Artemis 1 marked the successful completion of the first step in a new era of space travel to the moon. It comes 50 years after the last astronaut bounced along the lunar surface. Now, the goal is to make moon travel more routine and sustainable. Science reporter Ivan Semeniuk explains how NASA hopes to do this in the next decade, along with help...

Myanmar has been in a state of chaos since February 2021 when the military staged a coup following a democratic election. Thousands of people have been killed in this civil war, and the UN estimates that around a million people have been displaced in the country. Siegfried Modola, a photojournalist and documentary photographer, spent weeks inside Myanmar for the Globe traveling with one of the reb...

Healthcare systems across the country are under strain yet again, and this time children seem to be bearing the worst of the combination of influenza, RSV, and COVID-19. Health officials would like people to voluntarily mask to help stop the spread, but people across Canada seem to have given up on them. Dr. Kim Lavoie is a psychologist at UQAM, Canada Research Chair in Behavioural Medicine, and c...

The federal government paid $4.6-billion in COVID-19 benefits to ineligible recipients, and another $27.4-billion of payouts should be investigated to see if they met the program’s eligibility. That’s according to an Auditor-General report released on Tuesday. It says that while Ottawa did a good job quickly delivering money to Canadians, they’re doing a poor job identifying who needs to pay the m...

Canadians have already seen the cost of groceries grow by over 10 per cent this year, and costs are expected to keep rising . A bag of the humble romaine lettuce can cost as much as $13. Now, experts are projecting that food costs for the average Canadian family will go up by $1,000 in 2023. This week, the Committee of Agriculture held a hearing with representatives from major grocery retailers to...

Two years ago, Helen Naslund was sentenced to eighteen years in prison for killing her husband, Miles, in 2011. They married young, in the early 1980s – he was twenty, and she was seventeen. He abused her and their three children for decades. Today on the Decibel, Globe feature writer Jana Pruden shares Helen’s story and unpacks how the justice system treats women who have been abused. For help wi...