The Decibel
Episodes
To save this baby, doctors had to kill part of her brain
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Maryam Fatima was born with a condition called hemimegalencephaly, a rare birth defect where one side of the brain is abnormally large. She suffered f...
A mixtape of you: the summer of the Great Canadian Playlist
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canadians have been spending a lot of time thinking about identity and their relationship to Canada. As U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war drag...
Bark! The Herald Angels Sing: how people met their pets
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The winter holidays are a time to cozy up with family – even if those family members are furry and of a different species. For many, dogs and cats a...
Why time feels like it’s speeding up – and how to slow it down
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many factors of modern life can make time feel like it’s moving faster than it actually is: hustle culture at work, a productivity compulsion at hom...
Why Heated Rivalry has everyone hot and bothered
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Canadian television show Heated Rivalry has found major success not just in Canada, but with American audiences, too. The show, a love story betwe...
Canadian military officer charged with leaking government secrets
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canadian counter-intelligence military officer Matthew Robar, is facing charges of espionage. The veteran military officer is accused of sharing infor...
The rise of medical tourism
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This travel season, Canadians might be headed away for something other than a vacation.More Canadians are participating in medical tourism, travelling...
Bondi Beach shooting echoes past antisemitic attacks
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The attack on Jewish Australians at Bondi Beach in Sydney has sent shockwaves around the world. To many in Jewish communities, it mirrors previous ant...
Why your loyalty points don’t go as far as they used to
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Loyalty reward programs are everywhere we shop. They’re at coffee shops, retailers, airports and grocery stores. Many of us are connected to our poi...
The multibillion-dollar fight over the McCain Foods fortune
15 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The heirs to Canada’s multi-billion dollar frozen food empire are fighting. New Brunswick’s McCain Foods is the world’s largest French fry maker...
New crime bill addresses violence against women and court delays
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Mark Carney’s federal government has introduced its second tough-on-crime bill this fall. The new bill, Bill C-16, focuses on violence against women...
Rise in late-stage prostate cancer raises concerns over testing
11 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Late-stage prostate cancer diagnoses are on the rise in Canada. According to a recent study, between 2010 and 2021, rates of prostate cancer discovere...
The traveller’s guide to Canadian airline disruptions
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hours before a strike deadline, Air Transat and the union representing airline pilots reached a tentative agreement. For customers, it comes as relief...
How three Canadian businesses have coped with Trump’s tariffs
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Canadian manufacturing sector has been having a hard time, which has been made worse by U.S. tariffs. The impact of these tariffs varies company t...
The construction industry’s opioid problem
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For families, the tragedy of opioids is beyond measure. The opioid epidemic has claimed tens of thousands of lives in Canada and has been recognized a...
The future of Canada’s military and joining Europe’s defence fund
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canada is in the midst of reframing its approach to military spending. The reasons for this are twofold; a commitment to fulfilling NATO spending as p...
The businessman at the heart of Alberta’s health care controversy
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not unusual for business owners to forge ties with governments, but there are rules around conflicts of interest when it comes to procurement. ...
The case against cleaning before hosting
03 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
With the holidays right around the corner, households are getting ready for company and deep cleans are underway. Even the idea of letting family and ...
Why do so many Canadian roads not have cell service?
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Across Canada, highways and rural roads are studded with cellular ‘dead zones’. In some provinces, coverage gaps span over 30 per cent of major ro...
Why a new Ontario law has renters worried about more evictions
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ontario just passed Bill 60, officially named the “Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act.” It’s a big omnibus bill, but it’s garnered the most ...
Carney, Smith agree to pipeline framework, as minister resigns
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have signed an agreement that sets the framework for building a new pipeline, carrying b...
Why Canada lost consensus on immigration — and how to get it back
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Canadian consensus on immigration cratered last year. In the fall of 2024, an Environics poll found that for the first time in a quarter century m...
If AI is a bubble, how will it pop?
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some of the world’s largest tech companies, like OpenAI, Google and Meta, have invested hundreds of billions of dollars into artificial intelligence...
Alleged drug trafficking, murders and an Olympian-turned-fugitive
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, the FBI and the RCMP announced 10 new arrests in connection with a $1-billion drug-trafficking ring allegedly run by Canadian former Olympi...
The controversial push to expand private health care in Alberta
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
No Canadian province allows doctors to offer care under both private and public systems – but leaked draft legislation obtained by The Globe and Mai...
The bureaucracy slowing down access to life-saving drugs
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For cancer patients, every day of treatment is critical. But the best care possible is not always reaching patients quickly. Despite Health Canada app...
Canada courts UAE amid calls to stop its arming of Sudan militia
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney is in the United Arab Emirates to try to shore up foreign investment ahead of next week’s G20 summit in South ...
The Epstein scandal and the Canadians who knew him
19 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, over 20,000 pages of the late Jeffrey Epstein’s emails, texts and other documents were released. In one email, Epstein – the deceased c...
Why beef is so expensive right now
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Beef prices are currently around 23 per cent above their five-year average. And there’s no relief in sight.Kate Helmore is The Globe’s agriculture...
Why a B.C. billionaire’s bid for Hudson’s Bay stores failed
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In May, a B.C. billionaire named Weihong (Ruby) Liu made a $69.1-million deal to acquire 28 leases of former Hudson’s Bay stores. Her company, Centr...
What Carney is prioritizing with his new nation-building projects
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled the next set of projects the federal government plans to prioritize in a bid to jumpstart Canada’s economy. ...
Where is the best place to rent in Canada?
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Where in Canada is it best to rent right now? The Globe analyzed cities from coast to coast to coast, comparing cities’ median incomes with their av...
Two Conservative MPs are gone. Where does the party go from here?
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On the day the budget was tabled, Chris d’Entremont, the lone Conservative MP from Nova Scotia, crossed the floor to the Liberals. Two days later, M...
The Indigenous land claim that could override private property rights
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A precedent-setting ruling involving Aboriginal title at the B.C. Supreme Court has caused widespread uncertainty and tension in the province. In Augu...
Carney’s big bet for $500-billion in private investments
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A big part of the federal budget rests on the assumption that its measures will spur the private sector to invest in Canada…a lot. It’s projecting...
The stress of shared calendars in modern parenting
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Parents are increasingly relying on elaborate calendar systems to keep track of their families’ activities – from a shared calendar or paper plann...
Why the condo bubble burst could lead to better housing
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For more than a decade, Canada’s condo boom was on. Investors, at home and abroad, drove the craze over reselling preconstruction units. Rents skyro...
Key takeaways from the Carney government’s first budget
05 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Tuesday, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne tabled the first federal budget from Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government. It had long ...
What to look out for in the 2025 federal budget
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Today, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne is set to deliver the first budget under Prime Minister Mark Carney. Early announcements have sig...
Whales, extinction and the sounds of underwater noise pollution
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
North Atlantic right whales are nearing extinction, with fewer than 400 left in the world. We know what is killing them: getting hit by shipping boats...
Why a sleep doctor says we should never change our clocks again
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Sunday, most Canadians gain an hour of sleep as the clocks get turned back to standard time. But while most of us have gotten used to the bi-annual...
Why Quebec doctors are threatening to leave the province
30 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last weekend, Quebec passed new legislation that would impose a new contract on doctors, who have been in negotiations with the provincial government ...
U.S. trade talks stalled after Ford ad, Carney heads to Asia
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump ended trade talks with Canada and threatened to hike tariffs on Canadian imports by another 10 per cent becau...
Why more young people are signing prenups
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
‘Til death do us part – that’s the promise couples make to each other when they tie the knot. But what happens in the event of a divorce? Disent...
Do we need a ‘buy Canadian’ movement for culture?
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As Canadians, we’ve spent a lot of time over the past year talking about what it means to be Canadian and how to support our country. For some peopl...
OK Blue Jays! A bandwagoner’s guide to the World Series
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Toronto Blue Jays are headed to the World Series for the first time in over 30 years. It’s the third time in franchise history that Canada’s t...
What record gold and silver prices tell us about the stock market
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The prices of gold and silver have been climbing quickly this fall, with both precious metals setting a new high for per-ounce price. Why is this happ...
What’s going on with Pierre Poilievre?
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre made comments about the RCMP being “despicable” on a YouTube show, accusing them of “covering up...
Why bail reform is hard to get right
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On Thursday, Ottawa announced incoming legislation to reform the bail system. It comes after months of pressure both in Parliament and across the coun...
AI and digital sovereignty in the ‘elbows up’ era
20 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
There has been a lot of talk about Canadian sovereignty ever since the election of Donald Trump. And that sovereignty talk extends to the digital real...
The crop caught in the crosshairs of the Canada-China trade war
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is visiting China as part of an effort to improve relations amid a trade war between Canada and China....
A dispatch from Gaza as the fragile ceasefire takes hold
16 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The ceasefire in Gaza that U.S. President Donald Trump helped broker has been in place since Friday. But already, both Israel and Hamas have accused e...
What it’s like for migrant workers on Canadian farms
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canada’s agriculture industry is big business, contributing $32-billion to Canada’s GDP in 2024 and employing an estimated 223,000 people. What ga...
The fight over the notwithstanding clause
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A legal battle is underway over the notwithstanding clause, which allows governments to override “[certain] rights of Canadians” that are protecte...
Machines Like Us: Geoffrey Hinton on AI’s future
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Geoffrey Hinton, “the godfather of AI”, pioneered much of the network research that would become the backbone of modern AI. But it’s in the last...
How a new pipeline could test Canadian unity
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A new pipeline pitch is stirring up an old fight. On Oct. 1, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith announced the province would be drawing up a proposal for ...
How seriously is corporate Canada taking DEI these days?
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Five years ago, hundreds of Canadian companies publicly pledged to address anti-Black racism. They signed the BlackNorth Initiative, which has since b...
Key takeaways from Carney’s second meeting with Trump
08 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Five months after his first appearance in the Oval Office, Prime Minister Mark Carney made his second trip down to Washington. And while he said littl...
How October 7 is still haunting the Jewish diaspora
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On October 7, 2023, members of Hamas launched attacks in Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 people hostage. Israel responded by launc...
How Trump’s peace plan for Gaza could end the war
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a 20-point peace plan to end the war in Gaza. He did so alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Neta...
Why Alberta teachers are on the cusp of a historic strike
03 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The education system has been fraught with controversy in Alberta. From the government’s recent attempt to ban certain books in school libraries, to...
Boiling point: the uncertain future of lobster fishing
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The great boom of the lobster industry is, in many ways, a story of success. For more than 30 years, Canada’s most valuable seafood export has gener...
What life is like for missing Ukrainian kids in Russian camps
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Official estimates from Ukraine’s government say 19,000 Ukrainian children have been taken by Russian forces since the start of the conflict. And ma...
Machines Like Us: AI upending higher education
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Just two months after ChatGPT was launched in 2022, a survey found 90 per cent of college students were already using it. But students are no longer u...
Let's talk about autism
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Last Monday, the Trump administration linked Tylenol to autism and warned against pregnant women taking it — Health Canada says there is no conclusi...
Who’s behind Canada’s nation-building projects?
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canada’s new Major Projects Office is part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ambition to fast-track Canada’s major infrastructure projects. And th...
High-stakes trade talks begin as Trump tariffs persist
25 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After months of informal back-and-forth talks about Donald Trump’s tariffs, a new chapter in the U.S.-Canada trade war has begun. Last week, the U.S...
Tracing the virus: How measles made its way back to Canada
24 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Measles is one of the most contagious respiratory viruses in the world. But for decades, it rarely infected Canadians. That’s not true any more. Sin...
Charlie Kirk, free speech, and Canada’s new anti-hate law
23 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A fierce debate about free speech has erupted in the U.S. in the wake of Charlie Kirk’s killing. Government officials have encouraged reporting agai...
Meet the people who save aggressively to retire early
22 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Would you work two full-time jobs and live off of ramen noodles if it meant you could retire at 35? That’s the image many people have of people who ...
The disappearance of Jack and Lilly Sullivan
19 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
On May 2, 2025, Lilly and Jack Sullivan were reported missing from the small community of Landsdowne, Nova Scotia. The disappearance of the siblings q...
Mark Carney’s plan for affordable housing
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
At the beginning of the week, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the launch of Build Canada Homes, an agency tasked with building affordable and sup...
Israel begins ground invasion of Gaza, UN inquiry finds genocide
17 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
After weeks of warnings, Israel has begun a full-scale ground invasion into Gaza City. Hundreds of thousands of people are living under bombardment in...
What you need to know about COVID-19 this fall
16 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
COVID-19 is currently surging again. And it’s not even respiratory illness season yet. While much of the public would like to leave the pandemic beh...
The challenges ahead for Carney as Parliament resumes
15 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Between ramping up major infrastructure projects, trying to make a deal with the U.S., and working on strengthening ties with Europe, Prime Minister M...
KPop Demon Hunters, Korean culture and why kids love it so much
12 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The movie of the summer wasn’t in theatres this year. It was on Netflix, it’s called KPop Demon Hunters and kids are obsessed with it. It has beco...
Leak reveals China is exporting internet censorship technology
11 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
China’s Great Firewall blocks social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, along with certain political topics, streaming platforms, and even Go...
Pipelines, ports and rail: What’s Carney building first?
10 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For months, there has been speculation about what Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government might put forward as “nation-building projec...
The multimillion-dollar fight over a piece of Canadian history
09 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
As the Hudson’s Bay Company continues to sell off what it owns to pay back creditors, a historic document has come up for sale. The Bay’s charter ...
Segregation of child inmates being challenged in landmark lawsuit
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A landmark class action lawsuit is alleging that Manitoba has subjected thousands of incarcerated children to solitary confinement — the province de...
Introducing the new host of The Decibel
08 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Decibel welcomes Sherrill Sutherland as the host for the coming year, with a special appearance from Menaka Raman-Wilms. You can get in touch wit...
Should we worry about the gender gap at university?
05 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When 1.5 million university students return to campus this month, men will be noticeably underrepresented in the student body. In 2025, the ratio is a...
Oct. 7 documentary draws TIFF controversy
04 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Toronto International Film Festival has kicked off, but not without controversy. This year, the premiere of the documentary, “The Road Between U...
The first wave of AI layoffs
03 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Artificial intelligence in the workplace is here to stay. But what does that mean for the job market? While many Canadian companies are embracing the ...
Is it legal to defend yourself if someone breaks into your home?
02 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In August, a man allegedly broke into someone’s home in a small Ontario town. After an altercation, the intruder was hospitalized with life-threaten...
To save this baby, doctors had to kill part of her brain
29 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Maryam Fatima was born with a condition called hemimegalencephaly, a rare birth defect in which one side of the brain is abnormally large. She suffere...
The black market for getting hacked Meta accounts back
28 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Having social media accounts hacked is stressful. Usually, companies have formal channels for users to regain access. But for Meta platforms like Face...
How kids are getting hooked on gambling through online games
27 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Problem gambling is a real issue in Canada – where reporting shows young people having even higher rates than adults. The increasing monetization of...
Canada’s fragmented medical records system
26 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The way medical records are handled in Canada is a patchwork of disconnected systems – creating massive headaches for patients and doctors. Patients...
Border security bill grants new powers to tighten immigration
25 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bill C-2, also known as the Strong Borders Act, is one of the first pieces of legislation by Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government. The 140-page b...
Fossil feud: Paleontologists have a bone to pick with new find
22 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In 2021, mine workers in Morocco made a huge discovery. They found a fossil that scientists believed to be a new species of mosasaur – a large swimm...
Why tariffs haven’t hit consumer prices hard – yet
21 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When the U.S. first imposed sweeping tariffs on Canada, setting off a trade war, businesses and consumers braced for high inflation. But nearly half a...
How the Air Canada strike tested Canada’s labour laws
20 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A national strike by Air Canada flight attendants ended on Tuesday morning, three days after it began. One of the key issues that Air Canada and the C...
Why Wikipedia might be the last good place on the internet
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Since Wikipedia was founded nearly 25 years ago as a free, online encyclopedia, it has consistently ranked as one of the top 10 most visited websites ...
Toddlers among Canadians detained by ICE
18 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A Globe and Mail investigation has revealed the extent to which Canadians have been caught up in U.S. President Trump’s immigration crackdown. Analy...
Why Canada’s water security is being threatened by Trump
15 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, scientific research at the Great Lakes has meant close partnership between Canada and the U.S., but President Trump’s latest job cuts m...
Why more Western nations are recognizing Palestinian statehood
14 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In late July, French President Emmanuel Macron said France would recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September. Th...
Why an obsession with sleep hygiene might be keeping you awake
13 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The conversation around sleep is shifting. Hustle culture views sleep as a waste of time. But in a culture increasingly focused on health and wellness...
Popeyes Chicken, covert surveillance and alleged rotting meat
12 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Popeyes Chicken is one of the most well-known fast food franchises in North America. But its reputation could be tested by a lawsuit alleging that som...
ICE detention and a ‘legal trap’ on the way to Canada
11 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
An Afghan family fleeing the Taliban and attempting to join relatives in Canada have been held in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deten...