The Decibel

Behind Canada’s explosive allegations against India

30 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On October 14, the RCMP shared explosive allegations linking Indian government officials to homicides, extortions and coercion committed against Canad...

Riding the Greyhound through America’s swing states

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The U.S. election is a week away, and tensions are running high. Polls show Harris and Trump as more or less deadlocked. America’s Electoral College...

‘We could have acted earlier’: Canada’s Immigration Minister

28 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a major reduction in the number of permanent residents the country will admit over the next three...

How to make a true crime podcast

25 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

14 years ago, a young woman disappeared in Edmonton... two years later, police released a chilling recording from the final moments of her life. Ever ...

What a Trump re-election could mean for Canada’s economy

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he will impose 10 to 20 per cent tariffs on everything the U.S. imports. This would include, i...

Why the AFN rejected a $47.8-billion child welfare deal

23 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the Assembly of First Nations voted to reject a $47.8-billion child welfare deal with the federal government. The agreement would have fund...

How the Parliament Hill shooting changed Canada

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On October 22, 2014, a man named Michael Zehaf-Bibeau entered Parliament Hill, killing Canadian soldier Nathan Cirillo and catching security off guard...

Jupiter’s ocean moon, stranded astronauts and a special asteroid

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ivan Semeniuk is The Globe’s science reporter and today on the show he takes us on a tour of our solar system – and beyond! We start with the news...

Trudeau grilled on foreign interference and Indian expulsions

18 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The hearings for the public inquiry into foreign interference led by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue wrapped up earlier this week with testimony from Prime...

B.C.’s election: a party’s implosion and an unlikely face-off

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

British Columbia heads to the polls this Saturday, October 19th. It’s been an election campaign full of surprises — from the collapse of one estab...

The rough state of Canada’s emergency care

16 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Emergency rooms across Canada are in a dire state. Wait times in many ERs remain stubbornly high. And in some provinces, the full understanding of how...

Behind the gallery wall: the art that museums don’t show you

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

If you were to spend an afternoon wandering around an art museum, you’d see hundreds of pieces, if not thousands. But the reality is, what you see o...

Introducing ‘In Her Defence: 50th Street’

11 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Amber Tuccaro was 20 years old when she disappeared in Edmonton in August 2010. She was never seen alive again. But she left an important clue: a chil...

Why Gen Z is lonely and what they’re doing about it

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What does it mean to be connected in the world today? Gen Z – the cohort born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s – has been inundated by s...

Everybody’s a food critic. Is anybody good at it?

09 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

At all but a handful of publications, restaurant critics are a relic of bygone days. In their place, the food influencer has risen up in popularity. S...

Life for Palestinians one year after

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This is the second part of a two-episode special looking at the rippling effects of a year of war in Israel, the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. In this epis...

One year after Israel’s ‘Black Saturday’

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, killed nearly 1,200 Israelis and saw 250 people kidnapped. It also sparked one of the largest wars ...

Why won’t Justin Trudeau step down?

04 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Justin Trudeau’s poll numbers have been bad for a while. The Liberals have lost two crucial by-elections and are trailing behind the Conservatives i...

On board a Canadian warship in the Pacific

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Canada’s Navy has been expanding its presence in the Pacific, as tensions with China rise, leaving vital trade routes in potential danger. At the sa...

How Israel’s strikes on Lebanon create new frontlines

02 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Tuesday, Iran fired hundreds of missiles into Israel following weeks of increasing Israeli aggression on Hezbollah. This week, Israel began ground ...

How a little known bank is trying to build big things in Canada

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Canada Infrastructure Bank has been around since 2017, and originally it was meant to help build huge infrastructure across the country. In fact, ...

Canada is taking on the Taliban over women’s rights

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Canada has joined three other countries in a legal process to hold the Taliban accountable for discriminating against women by enacting increasingly o...

In Her Defence: 50th Street starts tomorrow

29 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Follow In Her Defence: 50th Street to listen to the first two episodes on MondayAmber Tuccaro was 20 years old when she left her infant son with a fri...

A massive cyanide leak and the cost of gold

27 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Back in June, there was a massive accident at the Eagle gold mine in central Yukon, on traditional Na-Cho Nyak Dun territory — 4 million tonnes of c...

How the Conservatives tried (and failed) to trigger an election

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Wednesday, a Conservative non-confidence motion was voted down by the other parties in the House of Commons. But it’s just the first of many to c...

The politics of B.C.’s involuntary care

25 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, days before the British Columbia election was called, Premier David Eby announced a new plan for mental health and addictions care. B.C. al...

The behind-the-scenes look at how Rogers took over Toronto sports

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A set of rivals came to an unexpected agreement recently. Rogers Communications Inc. bought BCE Inc.’s 37.5-per-cent stake in Maple Leaf Sports & En...

The rules for buying a house are changing

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the Liberal government announced they’re bringing in new mortgage rules to help first-time buyers get into the market. The changes would ...

‘We are deeply ashamed’: The Canadian Medical Association

20 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On September 18, the Canadian Medical Association issued an apology to Indigenous peoples. The group represents Canadian doctors and President Joss Re...

Gold bars, millions of dollars seized by police...is that legal?

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Back in March of this year, authorities in British Columbia filed an “unexplained wealth order” to seize a safety deposit box that belonged to Mic...

By-election tests: The NDP passed. The Liberals failed.

18 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Monday, voters in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood-Transcona and Montreal’s LaSalle-Émard-Verdun went to the polls. The results saw the Liberals l...

Why AI is no miracle drug

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Drug development has always been a long and arduous process, taking years of research and costing millions of dollars. When some biotech companies sta...

The ‘ghost gear’ strangling Canada’s marine wildlife

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fishing equipment like nets, traps and lines that have been lost or abandoned are a serious problem for marine wildlife. They’re designed to trap se...

The fallout from Ukraine’s incursion into Russia

13 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been just over a month since the Ukrainian military launched an incursion into the Russian region of Kursk. It was a surprising move, and Ukrai...

Can Trudeau pull the Liberal Party back from the brink?

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Liberal Party is in a ‘dire state’. From questions over Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s continued leadership to the collapse of the supply a...

Analyzing Canada’s big banks’ ties to an Israeli defence company

11 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since the 2023 Giller Prize ceremony, Scotiabank, the fiction prize’s lead sponsor, has been the target of protests over its stake in Elbit Systems,...

Bingo! What to expect in the U.S. presidential debate

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are set to face off in what will likely be the only debate between them on September 10th at 9 p.m. ET. And as far as d...

In conversation with Ukraine’s First Lady

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A new phase in the war in Ukraine began when Ukrainian forces took Russian territory in August. A month later, the Russians fired back, dealing Ukrain...

How an unsolved murder uncovered the world’s largest art fraud

06 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Police say that it’s the biggest art fraud in world history—and it happened here in Canada. It centres around the art of the renowned Anishinaabe ...

Jagmeet Singh ‘rips up’ Liberal-NDP deal

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since March 2022, the NDP has been propping up the Liberals in a supply and confidence agreement, that saw both parties support each other and strike ...

Rat czars and pigeons on ‘The Pill’: cities wage war on pests

04 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

As long as there have been cities, there have been pest problems. Beneath our feet, rats scurry about and feed off our garbage. They breed quickly and...

How to deal with back-to-school anxiety

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This week, most kids across the country are headed back to school. That transition can bring a lot of feelings – excitement, but also nervousness an...

Four reasons why you can’t afford housing

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Buying and owning a home in Canada is an endless source of frustration. Many have been priced out, while competition is high as a lack of housing stoc...

Why Canada is cutting back on temporary foreign workers

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The government has announced that they are cutting down on the numbers of low-wage temporary foreign workers being admitted into the country. The new ...

What’s going on at TD Bank?

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, TD Bank released its quarterly earnings. For the first time in 21 years, they reported a quarterly loss – largely because they set aside ...

The railway labour dispute, explained

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Labour negotiations between Canada’s two major railways – CN and CPKC – and the train workers’ union, Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, have b...

How inflation is messing with benefits and pensions

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We often think about how food prices and income struggle to keep up with inflation, but what about things like pensions and benefits? Are they keeping...

Why running is more popular than ever

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Distance running, once a relatively niche sport, has exploded in popularity. The trend has been ongoing for at least a decade, but 2024′s running se...

The killing of a multimillion-dollar fraudster

22 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On June 17, police were called to a shooting in a neighbourhood of Toronto. Three people were killed, two victims and the shooter. We learned as the d...

Why movie theatres are banking on ‘go big or go home’

21 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Going to the movies is getting more complicated. When you want to pick a showing, you now have a growing list of premium options, from IMAX, to 3D, to...

University of Toronto lab unmasks Russian hacking campaign

20 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

By now, most people know how to recognize the signs of a phishing e-mail – poor spelling and grammar, strange sender e-mail addresses, and of course...

Why the condo slump matters for the housing crisis

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A recent report said that condo sales in Toronto are at a 27-year low. Insolvencies amongst condo developers are rising and set to be 57-per-cent high...

Why aren't there more public toilets?

16 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When nature calls, you have to answer, and quickly. The last thing you’d want is to walk several kilometers to find a public toilet.. And yet, publi...

Mayors call for help with ‘humanitarian crisis’ of homelessness

15 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A coalition of mayors across Ontario are pleading for help in what they call a “humanitarian crisis” on their streets. They say the issues of home...

Viral videos on IUD pain spur new medical guidance

14 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Intrauterine devices, or IUDs, have become increasingly accessible and popular over the last few years. The high level of efficacy and added benefits,...

A developer, a beloved island and an old amusement park

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Boblo Island is situated in the Detroit River, on the border of Canada and the U.S., just outside of Windsor. For almost a century, it was a beloved a...

Loblaw dominates groceries. Now it’s eyeing healthcare

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In 2023, more than 6.5 million people across Canada did not have a family doctor. Family doctor deserts are growing so vast that patients will stay wi...

Why millennial women are so burnt out

09 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Millennial women are feeling burnt out.The responsibilities and pressures of family, work and caregiving are piling up, amidst the lingering fallout o...

Israel-Hezbollah tensions escalate with deadly strikes

08 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since the war in Gaza broke out in October, Israel and Hezbollah have been engaged in constant military strikes. At the end of July, the violence esca...

The secrets of Summer McIntosh’s Olympic success

07 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Expectations were high for 17-year-old Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh coming into the Paris Olympic Games. After all the races were said and done, s...

Inside the longevity movement selling a longer lifespan

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the last few years, a movement has grown where followers are spending thousands of dollars on rigorous and sometimes extreme health practices wit...

Stress Test: Here’s what young Canadians are putting in their TFSAs

02 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From Stress Test, The Globe’s personal finance podcast for Gen Z and millennials:We’re taking a peek into the TFSAs of regular Canadians to give y...

Why is Ontario getting rid of its COVID wastewater surveillance?

01 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For nearly four years, researchers have been using data collected from wastewater samples to determine when and where COVID infections were rising in ...

Drone spying casts shadows over Canada’s Olympic Games

31 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

One of the biggest stories of the Paris Olympics has centred on the Canadian women’s soccer team, as the reigning gold medal winners have been embro...

What Jasper can teach us about managing wildfires

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, wildfires tore through the town of Jasper, Alta., and the surrounding national park. Around 30 per cent of the town was destroyed, but some...

The think tank writing the ‘blueprint’ for Trump’s second term

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Opponents of Donald Trump have been sounding alarms about Project 2025, a policy plan for a conservative presidency put forward by an influential thin...

Has the promise of plant-based meats gone bust?

26 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 green...

A murder conviction and the search for missing Indigenous women

25 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A serial killer in Winnipeg has been convicted in the murders of four Indigenous women – Morgan Harris, Rebecca Contois, Marcedes Myran and an unide...

The paradox – and potential – of Kamala Harris’ campaign

24 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In under two days, the narrative around Kamala Harris has completely shifted. It went from questioning her ability to replace Joe Biden, to a nearly c...

The Paris Olympics might be exactly what we need right now

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Globe and Mail’s Cathal Kelly has high hopes for the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris. He thinks that 2012 was the last great Olympics and right ...

How Biden’s exit fits into American political history

22 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

After weeks of pressure, speculation and open questions from political leaders about his age and health, U.S. President Joe Biden has dropped his re-e...

Why discount airlines keep going bust in Canada

19 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In late Februrary, Calgary-based discount airline Lynx Air, which launched a mere two years prior, ceased operations. For customers, that meant they’...

The sorry state of Canada’s water pipes

18 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

When a large drinking water pipe burst in Calgary last month, city residents were subject to water usage restrictions that lasted for weeks. Living in...

The Canadian accused of building a digital den for drug dealers

17 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Krusky is an unassuming tech nerd whose company, EncroChat, was once just one of the world’s many encrypted phone services. Now, he is in a Fre...

What’s next for Republicans after the attack on Trump

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday has thrown an already tense election campaign into further chaos. Despite bein...

Five ways that Canada’s housing market is broken

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The problems with Canada’s housing market have spread beyond major cities like Toronto and Vancouver to smaller communities across the country. Vaca...

How seafood from North Korean forced labour ends up in Canada

12 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Where does your seafood come from? And who, along the supply chain, handled it? An investigation from the non-profit investigative journalism organiza...

What’s at stake for Canada at the NATO summit

11 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This year’s NATO summit comes at a critical moment. Pledges of support for Ukraine drum up questions about why Canada and other NATO members are lag...

Life on the border of Myanmar’s civil war

10 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Myanmar civil war has been raging on for over three years now. Over 50,000 people have been killed, including 8,000 civilians, as the military jun...

Meeting IRL: the backlash against online dating

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Dating apps have gained popularity over the past decade as singles strive to meet new people in a digital age. But frustration is setting in for many ...

Jane Boon: Reflecting on my sexual experience with Frank Stronach

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On June 7, the 91-year-old Canadian business magnate Frank Stronach was arrested and charged with sexual assault. On June 26, more charges were brough...

Hard truths about ‘gentle parenting’

05 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

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 ca...

Closing fisheries devastated Newfoundland. Should they come back?

04 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, the federal government ended a 32-year ban on commercial cod fishing off the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. It reverses a policy deci...

How rising antisemitism is affecting Canadian Jews

03 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Since October 7th, antisemitic incidents in Canada have been on the rise. Toronto Police Deputy Chief Robert Johnson said that nearly half of all hate...

The complex man at the centre of the Canada-India feud

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A year after the death of prominent Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, questions remain about who he really was. His murder sparked international tensi...

A crushing loss is making Trudeau’s Liberals rethink the future

28 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Justin Trudeau and the Liberals appear to be in big trouble. Following a stunning loss in the Toronto-St. Paul’s by-election to the Conservatives –...

Why Brits are so tired of the Conservative Party

27 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The U.K.’s Conservative Party is in deep trouble. Britons are heading for a general election on July 4 and polls indicate the ruling Tories are head...

What Nenshi’s win means for the NDP, Alberta, and Danielle Smith

26 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Over the weekend, the Alberta NDP elected former Calgary mayor Naheed Nenshi to lead the party into the 2027 provincial election. With membership numb...

A new Canada-U.S. border crossing and Windsor’s economic boom

25 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the first time in almost a century, North America’s busiest border crossing – between Detroit and Windsor – is expanding. The Gordie Howe In...

How to make friends as an adult

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It’s hard making friends as an adult. Time to build new relationships becomes scarce. And despite many ways to keep in contact, people are lonelier ...

Introducing ‘Lately’: The Globe and Mail’s business and tech podcast

21 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Introducing ‘Lately’: a new weekly podcast from The Globe and Mail about the intersection of business and technology. Every Friday, host Vass Bedn...

Why Elon Musk’s $50 billion payday scandal matters

20 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Last week, Tesla shareholders voted to approve a huge pay package for CEO Elon Musk that a judge previously struck down. If the payout is approved, Mu...

AI hype vs. AI reality

19 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Artificial Intelligence has been creeping into our lives more and more as tech companies release new chatbots, AI-powered search engines, and writing ...

Climate change, migration and Menaka’s epic birding day

18 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Point Pelee National Park juts out into Lake Erie like a finger, as every spring thousands of birds touch down on it. It’s a key stop along their mi...

The fallout from a law school’s pro-Palestinian letter

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Canada’s newest law school is in crisis. After an open-letter called for the Lincoln Alexander School of Law at Toronto Metropolitan University to d...

The elite soldiers behind the major battles for Ukraine: Part Two

14 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Yesterday on The Decibel, The Globe’s senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon told us about the top commanders and soldiers he’s been fo...

The elite soldiers behind the major battles for Ukraine: Part One

13 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the past few years, The Globe’s senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon has been building relationships with some of the top commander...

Maternity care and midwives in Canada’s health labour shortage

12 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hospitals across Canada have long been overwhelmed by patient demand and staff shortages. But another category of medical experts, specializing in chi...

How will Canada manage major energy demands in the next decade?

11 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Canada’s ‘green energy’ transition has begun. By 2035, the federal government is aiming to achieve a net-zero electricity grid. But is it possib...

Canadian parliamentarians accused of helping foreign agents

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A national watchdog report says some parliamentarians in Canada are ‘semi-witting’ or ‘witting’ participants in foreign efforts to interfere i...