The Decibel

A couple weeks ago, The Globe and Mail’s senior foreign correspondent Mark MacKinnon found out he’s now banned from entering Russia. He joins a long list of Canadians who can no longer enter the country, like our Prime Minister, basically every member of Parliament, and some Canadian mayors. This is part of a tit-for-tat between Russia and Western countries like Canada, after the West imposed sanc...

In the wake of the news that the U.S. Supreme Court has drafted a ruling that would reverse Roe v. Wade , effectively ending safe and legal abortion in some states, some abortion advocates in Canada are sounding the alarm. But just how accessible are abortion services in Canada? Martha Paynter is the author of Abortion to Abolition: Reproductive Health and Justice in Canada, and a registered nurse...

The Ontario provincial election campaign is officially underway and election day is June 2nd. The campaign promises have been coming in thick: $1 per ride transportation from the Ontario Liberals, new highways from the Progressive Conservatives, and hiring more nurses and personal support workers from the NDP, to name a few. Queen’s Park reporter Jeff Gray sets the scene for this month’s campaign,...

One billion dollars was promised towards building electric vehicles in Ontario on Monday – just the latest investment from government into the industry that hopes to do away with gas-powered engines, and replace them with batteries. People have long talked about electric vehicles, or EVs, as being a crucial element in getting emissions down to net-zero; but, as the Globe’s mining reporter Niall Mc...

Making a career out of holding a camera lens up to the frontlines of conflict, photojournalists can find themselves in tough - if not precarious - situations. The Globe’s new documentary , Shooting War , features nine photographers known for their work in conflict zones. Santiago Lyon, featured in the documentary, worked with the Associated Press for 25 years covering conflicts around the world. H...

Jawed Haqmal risked his life for the Canadian military. Now, he is waiting for the Canadian government to let him know if he can move to the country he once helped. Jawed is one of many Afghan nationals fleeing the Taliban who have been battling government bureaucracy to get to Canada for over six months now. Janice Dickson , a parliamentary reporter for The Globe, provides an update on Jawed’s jo...

New data from the 2021 census has been released . For the first time , the Census has counted Canada’s transgender and non-binary populations after making some controversial changes to its questions about sex and gender. Dr. El Chenier , a history professor at Simon Fraser University and founder of Boldly Nonbinary, talks about why this data is important and how it could be miscontrued. Hosted by...

Elon Musk has agreed to buy Twitter, the social media platform for US$44-billion on Monday, just a week after the company’s board tried to block the takeover. The Globe’s technology reporter, Temur Durrani , tells us who is financing the deal, what Twitter’s users and advertisers think of it, and why it matters even if you’ve never written a single tweet. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company....

It may be time to dust off your dress shoes and button-down shirts. Canadians are slowly returning to the office after two years working from dining tables and home offices. The Globe and Mail recently surveyed over 400 people about heading back to the office, and their responses were … emotional. The Globe’s future of work reporter, Vanmala Subramaniam , joins the podcast today to talk about the...

The age of private space travel is upon us. For a paltry few tens of millions, you could buy your own ticket to visit the International Space Station . A 10-day trip with Axiom Space cost Canadian businessman and philanthropist Mark Pathy US$50-million to be exact. Ivan Semeniuk , The Globe’s science reporter, got the chance to interview Mark while he was floating around the ISS. Ivan joins the sh...

There’s no shortage of craft breweries in Canada. Over the past decade, they grew at an explosive rate, from just a few hundred breweries in 2008 to almost 1,200 in 2020 . While this is good news for beer lovers, brewers face an oversaturated market and are struggling to turn a profit. Globe reporter Jason Kirby explains how the industry got here, why the pandemic exacerbated the problem and how t...

Warmer weather means summer, picnics, camping … and mosquitoes. Edmonton is particularly famous for their mosquito season. But with a focus on environmental sustainability, the city is ditching the pesticide spraying they’ve used for years to control mosquitoes, instead turning to a more natural solution – bats and dragonflies. Dr. Ken Fry is an Entomology Instructor in the School of Life Sciences...

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 resulting in a pay cut for most Canadians and what – if anything – you can do about it. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm...

Pierre Poilievre has been known as the federal Conservative’s attack dog. He’s often hyper partisan in Parliament, not afraid to pander to the base and support controversial movements, like the truckers convoy that occupied Ottawa earlier this year. And yet the career politician has tapped into a populist vein and is gaining attention by talking about issues like housing, inflation and cryptocurre...

When your country is invaded, how do you keep your family’s spirits up? In besieged Kharkiv, Ukraine, Natalie Slyusar focused on trying to give her son a regular 16th birthday – complete with a homemade chocolate cake. But baking’s a lot easier said than done while a war rages around you. This beguilingly simple story reveals a lot about how we get ourselves and our loved ones through the hardest...

Sexual health testing took a nose dive during the pandemic, as health care workers and resources were diverted towards the fight against COVID-19. And as Globe reporter Zosia Bielski tells us in this episode, when it comes to sexually transmitted infections: “Less detection equates with more spread.” Now, we’re paying the price: the rate of STIs, from gonorrhea to HIV, has risen precipitously in m...

On Monday, a by-election in a Montreal suburb ended in defeat for the Parti Quebecois, the province’s champion of separatism for the last fifty years. And yet 35 per cent of Quebeckers still believe in independence for Quebec. The Globe’s Quebec correspondent Eric Andrew-Gee explains why that isn’t translating into support for the PQ anymore. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswi...

On Monday , Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer Kieran Moore gave a COVID-19 update after being silent for almost a month. The province will expand PCR testing and antiviral drugs for certain people, Dr. Moore said, while the current surge in cases will likely continue into mid-to-late May. Ontario is not alone. Much of the country is facing a sixth wave of the pandemic. While vaccines remain an impor...

Most people want to shy away from life’s hard moments. But not Canadian actor and filmmaker Sarah Polley. In her first book, Run Towards the Danger , she shares six personal essays that explore some of the most difficult moments of her life. Sarah discusses the slippery nature of memories, how her relationship with her body has changed and what it’s been like to have the world read about vulnerabl...

The federal government has laid out a budget with $56-billion in new spending over six years . On the day the budget is released, journalists get to see the document in advance of the Finance Minister’s announcement – if they join what’s called a “lockup.” The Decibel was in the lockup at a hotel in downtown Ottawa, where Globe journalists explained the main takeaways from the budget, covering spe...

This week, Ukraine took back some key areas in the northern part of the country from Russian troops – including the cities of Bucha and Chernihiv. While we’ve heard reports of atrocities from inside these war zones, it’s only now that journalists and other officials are getting to see the damage and death with their own eyes. The Globe’s U.S. correspondent, Nathan Vanderklippe , is one journalist...

As we enter the sixth wave of COVID-19, hospitals are bracing for yet another surge. After two years of weathering wave after wave, doctors, nurses, and hospital staff are “burnt to a crisp,” as one Hamilton, Ont. doctor put it. The problems with Canada’s hospitals – from surgery backlogs, to “hallway medicine,” to staffing shortages – stretch back long before the pandemic. Globe and Mail investig...

COVID-19′s sixth wave is here. Quebec ’s institute of public health says the sixth wave began in mid-March. On Monday, Ontario premier Doug Ford said the province is in the midst of a “little spike” but that it’s manageable. Hospitalizations are up by about 30 per cent since the week before. And in Alberta, the province’s Health Minister Jason Copping acknowledged an uptick in case positivity rate...

Pope Francis has apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in the residential school system – an apology long awaited by Indigenous Peoples in Canada. This comes after a week of meetings between a delegation of Métis, Inuit and First Nations and the Pope and other members of the Catholic Church. Angie Crerar is an 85-year-old elder of the Métis Nation of Alberta. She spoke to Globe reporter Willow...

The federal government has released yet another climate change plan oriented toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions. What’s different this time? This latest Emissions Reduction Plan is a sector-by-sector blueprint that specifically puts pressure on the oil and gas sector to cut its emissions by 42 per cent by 2030 . Adam Radwanski is The Globe and Mail’s climate change columnist. He talks about...