The Decibel

Inside Canada Soccer’s equal pay fight

17 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Canada’s national women’s soccer team is protesting unequal treatment by the sport’s governing body. The players say Canada Soccer is not transp...

How to invest when the economy is on the rocks

16 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Investing your money can grow your wealth faster than just saving it— or shrink it, if you put your money in stocks that fail, or have to withdraw y...

Why mushroom dispensaries are sprouting up across Canada

15 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Tuesday, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May and NDP MP Alistair MacGregor held a news conference about medical access to psilocybin – better known ...

The flying objects being shot down over North America

14 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In the span of nine days, we’ve seen the takedown of four flying objects over North America by U.S. fighter jets. It has both Canada and the U.S. on...

Everything you need to know about fusion energy

13 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Fusion – the act of deriving energy by smashing atoms together – has long been the stuff of science fiction. But thanks to a recent scientific bre...

An impossible offer for Canadian children detained in Syria

10 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The federal government has offered to bring some Canadian children being held in detention camps in Syria to Canada – but their mothers can’t come...

Is $200 billion enough to fix health care?

09 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ottawa announced Tuesday a proposed $46.2-billion injection in new federal health care funding for the provinces and territories.For years, there have...

China’s long reach into Canada’s battery minerals industry

08 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Canada is facing increasing calls to grow its critical mineral industry as the world pivots toward its net-zero goals and batteries are becoming incre...

A Canadian sniper on the battle for Bakhmut, Ukraine

07 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A Canadian sniper, whose codename is Teflon, was set up in an apartment building in the destroyed city of Bakhmut, Ukraine, shooting waves of Russian ...

Why investors are flocking to the daycare business

06 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The federal government’s $30-billion pledge to bring daycare costs down to $10/day and to create 250,000 new spaces by 2026 isn’t only attracting ...

The McKinsey controversy explained

03 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Wednesday, Dominic Barton appeared before a parliamentary committee looking into the rise in outsourcing contracts awarded to McKinsey & Company, w...

B.C. decriminalizes some drug possession

02 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

As of this week, possession of 2.5 grams of some drugs in B.C. is decriminalized. The B.C. government says it is trying to reduce the number of people...

Edmonton spiritual leader charged with sexual assault

01 Feb 2023

Contributed by Lukas

John de Ruiter, a spiritual leader known for his piercing stare and who calls himself the ‘embodiment of truth’ was arrested and charged with four...

What the Rogers-Shaw deal could mean for your phone bill

31 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Monday, Rogers Communications Inc., Shaw Communications Inc. and Quebecor Inc. extended a deadline to mid-February that would finalize the largest ...

What went wrong with the Liberals’ gun legislation

30 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The Liberal government brought in Bill C-21 last May that would ban certain firearms. Amendments to the legislation have only confused the matter – ...

What remains a year after the convoy protests

27 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

A year after tens of thousands of people descended on Ottawa, some in their big-rig trucks, a lot has changed. Border restrictions have been lifted. S...

Unicorns, camels and the tech crash

26 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

To cope with the rising interest rates and higher-than-normal inflation in the economy, many tech companies are changing how they do business, focusin...

Arsenic in the air divides a small Quebec city

25 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The residents of Rouyn-Noranda, QC have known about the arsenic emissions coming from the local smelting plant for years. More studies are coming out ...

Western allies debate sending tanks to Ukraine

24 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ukraine wants tanks – 300 of them to be precise. President Volodymyr Zelensky believes that western battle tanks could be the key to driving Russian...

Why physically disciplining kids is still legal in Canada

23 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

In Canada, the criminal code allows for physical discipline of children, in certain circumstances. For almost half a century, advocates have been figh...

Are Alberta and BC good models for private surgery?

20 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced this week his government is increasing the use of private clinics for procedures like cataracts, diagnostic imagin...

Inside the life-or-death journey of one Venezuelan family

19 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Over 7-million Venezuelans have left their homes since 2017, when Nicholas Maduro seized power and the state started to collapse. Most refugees have t...

Canada’s new drinking guidelines

18 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

On Tuesday, Canada’s new guidelines for drinking and health were released from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction (CCSA). The guid...

What history can tell us about this economic moment

17 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The economic forecast for 2023 is … less than rosy. Inflation is still running high. Central banks may continue to raise interest rates. And what ev...

Why holiday travel chaos is the new normal

16 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The holiday travel period was incredibly tumultuous – with passengers stranded, bags lost and thousands of flights cancelled. The airlines say the w...

The hard-line plans of Israel’s new far-right government

13 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Israel’s new far-right government is looking to overhaul the country’s justice system – going so far as seeking to create a law that would allow...

Cheap grocery apps aiming to reduce food waste

12 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

There’s a growing demand for food waste apps from both shoppers and grocers. They’ve been touted as a new way for people to score deals as food pr...

A virologist on COVID variant XBB 1.5

11 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

The XBB 1.5 variant of COVID is quickly becoming the dominant strain in the US, and we’re seeing more cases here in Canada too. The WHO has called i...

Andrew Coyne looks ahead to politics in 2023

10 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Canada’s facing a stressed health care system, persistent inflation and a fraught geopolitical scene.Globe and Mail columnist Andrew Coyne looks at ...

Shopify's problems

09 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Shopify began this year announcing to its workers that meetings of more than two employees were banned. Slack channels that were not work-related – ...

Disaster-proof your finances for 2023

06 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

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 a...

Why the surge of COVID in China looks a lot like 2020

05 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Since China abandoned its COVID-zero policies, the country has seen a dramatic outbreak of infections. But exactly how bad things are remains murky, a...

The weight loss drug everyone’s talking about

04 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Ozempic and other semaglutide drugs have been hailed as a very effective treatment for obesity, but shortages, affordability and doctors’ willingnes...

How organ transplants could be changed by ... frozen frogs

03 Jan 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Some animals survive harsh winter conditions by completely freezing and thawing in spring, like the wood frog. Researchers are looking to harness thes...

2022: A look back on the year of the ‘freedom convoy’

30 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What started as a protest against vaccine mandates for cross-border truck drivers turned into a catch-all occupation of pent-up pandemic grievances. B...

As missiles fall around her, this Kharkiv citizen continues to fight disinformation

29 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 e...

Should the Pope reverse a 500-year-old Church law?

28 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 or...

If you didn’t get a big raise, you probably got a pay cut

27 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Move over Let It Go, we’re talking about Bruno

26 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 o...

What’s the holiday season without a little tradition?

23 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Short on cash and power, Ukraine faces a dark Christmas

22 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in Washington on Wednesday. It’s his first known time outside of Ukraine since Russia invaded more th...

The YouTubers guiding immigrants in small-town Canada

21 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 brin...

What we know about the mass shooting near Toronto

20 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

The tiny town that might vote itself out of existence

19 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the community of Gaultois, Newfoundland, an upcoming vote will determine whether to keep receiving government services, or take a payout to relocat...

A success story in Indigenous-led conservation

16 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced $800-million in funding for Indigenous-led conservation efforts at COP15, the biodiversity conference happenin...

FTX and Canadian crypto FOMO

15 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday. U.S. prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with e...

A promising young player, a devastating injury and Hockey Canada

14 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Why NASA wants to go back to the moon

13 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 m...

A rare look inside war-torn Myanmar

12 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 bee...

A behavioural psychologist explains why Canadians aren’t wearing masks

09 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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,...

The billions of dollars in ineligible COVID benefits

08 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

Why your groceries cost so much

07 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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 romai...

How the Canadian justice system treats abused women

06 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

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...

How to stop Indigenous identity fraud

05 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Joseph Boyden. Michelle Latimer. Carrie Bourassa. There has been a growing list of people who are accused of pretending to be Indigenous.Jean Teillet ...

What a more sovereign Alberta would mean for Canada

02 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Tuesday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith introduced her sovereignty act, the Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act, which would give her ca...

A glut of office space in a hybrid work world

01 Dec 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The office vacancy rates in two of Canada’s biggest cities – Toronto and Vancouver – have more than doubled since before the pandemic.The Globe’...

Zero-COVID protests break through the Great Firewall of China

30 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Protesters in China are blaming zero-COVID policies for the deaths of 10 people in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi. Demonstrations erupted...

Canada’s ambitious plan to bring in 500,000 immigrants by 2025

29 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The federal government plans to bring in 500,000 immigrants per year by 2025 – but only around 200,000 housing units are being built per year. With ...

Justin Trudeau testifies at the Emergencies Act inquiry

28 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s five-hour testimony wrapped up the final day of Emergencies Act inquiry.Mr. Trudeau faced questions about his decisi...

Are we ready for the new medically assisted dying law?

25 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In March, Canada will expand medically assisted dying to people with mental illness as a sole condition. This will make the country’s euthanasia law...

How soaring B.C. wait times are hurting cancer patients

24 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Cancer patients are facing lengthy wait times to see a doctor and get treated in British Columbia. These delays are not only stressful for the patient...

What the World Cup buys Qatar

23 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With World Cup host country Qatar getting bad press for its treatment of migrant workers, its stance on LGBTQ rights and its strict regulations on alc...

Premier Danielle Smith takes on health care in Alberta

22 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Danielle Smith harshly criticized health officials’ response to the pandemic in Alberta during her campaign to become premier – and she promised t...

Can big banks save us from climate change?

21 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The year was 2021. And former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney had a dream. In Glasgow, he announced that wanted to bring together the world’s fi...

Rupi Kaur wants you to start writing

18 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rupi Kaur is one of the most famous poets in the world. When she was just 21, she self-published her first collection of poetry, Milk and Honey. She’...

A doctor answers your questions about RSV, flu and COVID

17 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

As RSV, influenza and COVID circulate, health care systems that were already strained are struggling even more. Children’s hospitals in particular a...

The peace deal to end ‘world’s biggest war’ in Tigray

16 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Two weeks after a peace agreement between Ethiopia and Tigray was reached, humanitarian aid finally started to arrive in the Tigrayan region on Tuesda...

What the liberation of Kherson means for the war in Ukraine

15 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Globe’s Mark MacKinnon was in Kherson this weekend while residents celebrated Ukraine regaining control of the city from Russia’s invading for...

How FTX went from $32-billion to bankrupt in a week

14 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Sam Bankman-Fried was seen by many as the golden boy of the cryptocurrency world. He was the CEO of major crypto exchange FTX, which at its peak was w...

Why this climate scientist is worried the Bahamas won’t exist in 50 years

11 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

At the global climate conference COP27, a major discussion is a loss and damage fund. The idea is that wealthier countries that contributed more to cl...

Abortion rights’ impact on the Republican wave

10 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Republicans were expected to dominate the midterm elections, but the anticipated ‘red wave’ did not pan out. Democrats did better than expected an...

Why Doug Ford backpedaled in the dispute with CUPE

09 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In an abrupt reversal, Ontario Premier Doug Ford promised to repeal the legislation that revoked the right to strike for educational workers in the pr...

The secretive Chinese ‘police stations’ in Canada

08 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The RCMP are now investigating after a report from human rights organization Safeguard Defenders identified 54 so-called Chinese police “service sta...

How Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law is having a big impact on the U.S.

07 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Florida has brought in several policies recently that critics say target LGBTQ people, like the controversial ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, which preven...

School staff walk out to protest new Ontario legislation

04 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The labour dispute between educational workers, represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative gove...

The convoy leaders speak at the Emergencies Act inquiry

03 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week, the Emergencies Act inquiry is hearing from convoy leaders who took over Ottawa’s downtown core earlier this year while they were protest...

What COVID does to the brain

02 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Neuroscientists are trying to figure out how the COVID virus, SARS-COV-2, is affecting the brain. Many people who have gotten COVID end up having ling...

The Canadians leading the far-right movement in America

01 Nov 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There are a surprising number of Canadians involved in far-right politics in the U.S. Think Jordan Peterson, Steven Crowder, Gavin McInnes, Lauren Sou...

How your boss might be monitoring you

31 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Electronic monitoring of employees has been going on for years, but it’s seen a serious boost during the pandemic. It can consist of tracking anythi...

What new census data tells us about immigrants in Canada

28 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

New census data from Statistics Canada shows that immigrants now represent 23 per cent of the Canadian population, a new high. But these numbers only ...

Financial dos and don’ts for young adults in an uncertain economy

27 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Bank of Canada announced a 0.5 percentage point rate hike on Wednesday. It’s the sixth consecutive increase in the past year alone. These increa...

A made-in-Canada solution to help Indigenous people in prisons

26 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Indigenous people are over-represented in Canada’s federal prisons. One in three men in federal prisons identify as Indigenous, and the number is 50...

Rishi Sunak takes on a fragile British economy

25 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Rishi Sunak is set to become the UK’s next Prime Minister. This comes after Liz Truss resigned from the job after a tumultuous six weeks. Truss is t...

Recovery stalls in Prince Edward Island a month after Fiona

24 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s been a month since post-tropical storm Fiona slammed into Atlantic Canada, causing huge amounts of devastation. In Prince Edward Island, thousa...

What one annoying sound says about how we deal with homelessness

21 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

An anti-loitering noise device under a bridge in the small city of Oshawa, Ontario was put there by municipal officials to dissuade unhoused people fr...

What we’ve learned from the Emergencies Act inquiry so far

20 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The public inquiry into whether the use of the Emergencies Act to stop protests in Ottawa this past winter was justified is under way. On Wednesday, w...

How to fight drones in Ukraine

19 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the span of two weeks, Russia has launched two major drone attacks on Ukraine. Scores of so-called “kamikaze drones,” purchased from Iran, have...

Cold cases are being cracked with the help of ancestry sites

18 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Finding a suspect based on their DNA alone used to be almost impossible: police could only search DNA databases of people who’d already committed cr...

What you need to know about Buy Now, Pay Later

17 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

If you’ve bought something online recently, you’ve probably seen a payment option to spread out the purchase in installments. This is known as Buy...

The future of China’s economy

14 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Next week, China’s ruling Communist Party is expected to announce an unprecedented third term for its leader, Xi Jinping. Mr. Xi has consolidated hi...

Loblaw’s driverless trucks hit the road

13 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

There’s an experiment under way on the roadways around the Greater Toronto Area. Loblaw Companies Ltd. has partnered with autonomous vehicle company...

Mass resignation at Hockey Canada

12 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On Tuesday, the CEO of Hockey Canada, Scott Smith, left the organization and the entire board of directors resigned. The organization has been embroil...

Facebook, Meta and the future of social media

11 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The company that owns Facebook might be in trouble. Meta’s stock has plunged nearly 60 per cent this year, Facebook has been losing active users, ex...

Wild boars are in Canada and it’s no joke

10 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Adaptable, smart and invasive. No we’re not talking about humans. We’re talking about wild boars. With their populations growing and sightings –...

Gen Z’s housing struggles are worse than generations past

07 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

In the second quarter of 2022 housing affordability in Canada saw its “worst deterioration” in more than 40 years. At the same time, rents across ...

Ukraine’s breakthrough on the battlefield

06 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Ukrainian military has made substantial advancements in two regions of the country in the past few days. Those gains come as Russian President Vla...

How a tax cut for the wealthy almost tanked the UK economy

05 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Liz Truss’s ‘mini budget’ didn’t get a mini reaction. The plan, which initially included a cut in personal income tax for the top earners, sen...

The NFT market has crashed, but NFT thefts are rising

04 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

After a meteoric rise, the value of NFTs plummeted. But here’s the weird thing: that’s when people started stealing them. In the span of a year, o...

A doctor answers your current COVID questions

03 Oct 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We wanted to find out from you, our listeners, what you’re thinking about COVID-19 – especially as restrictions are disappearing and new vaccines ...

Land back and the next stage of reconciliation

30 Sep 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It’s become something of a rallying cry to move reconciliation forward, repeated from British Columbia to Ontario to New Brunswick. But what exactly...