The Decibel

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Context is everything. Join us Monday to Friday for a Canadian daily news podcast from The Globe and Mail. Explore a story shaping our world, in conversation with reporters, experts, and the people at the centre of the news.

16 HR AGO

Alberta vs. Texas: how two oil giants are taking on clean energy

Alberta and Texas have a lot in common. Both have independent western cultures, great country music, and each lead their countries in oil production. And over the past decade, they’ve both been the unlikely hosts to the multibillion-dollar renewable energy boom – with swaths of the Texas and Alberta energy grids going green. But while Texas becomes a leader, Alberta is changing course. Jeffrey Jones, a Calgary-based reporter with The Globe’s Report on Business, took road trips through both vistas to learn how and why these oil-producing regions became hubs for clean energy, and what’s behind Texas’s green surge and Alberta’s slowdown.

24 min
1 DAY AGO

The complexities of gender in the U.S. election

Before Nov. 5, many pollsters predicted that there would be a huge gender gap in the U.S. election vote, with women overwhelmingly supporting Democratic candidate Kamala Harris and men voting for the Republican choice, Donald Trump. That didn’t quite happen. Fifty three per cent of female voters supported Harris, and 46 per cent voted for Trump. In 2020, 55 per cent of women supported Joe Biden, and Trump only got 43 per cent of the female vote. So what does this mean? Dr. S. Laurel Weldon is a distinguished professor of political science at Simon Fraser University and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She is on the show to share her thoughts on what to make of gender data from exit polls and where feminist movements go from here.

22 min
2 DAYS AGO

Murray Sinclair, as remembered by his friend Tanya Talaga

Murray Sinclair died last week at the age of 73. As a trail-blazing judge, senator and chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he spent his life revealing the truth about Canada’s relationship with Indigenous people. Globe columnist Tanya Talaga was a friend of Sinclair’s, and often turned to him for guidance and mentorship. She joins us to reflect on his legacy and the work that’s still to be done.

24 min
5 DAYS AGO

How Trump’s pet-eating lie became emblematic of the election

Donald Trump’s path to victory hinged on seven swing states. He won five decisively, and is leading in the final two. Republicans now control the Senate, are on track to control the House, and for the first time since 2004, a Republican president won the popular vote, too. Immigration was one of the key issues among Trump voters — 37 per cent saw it as the most important issue in the election. It was also one of Trump’s biggest talking points at rallies, and crucially, at the September debate with Kamala Harris. His notorious line about immigrants eating people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, lit up his supporters — and incited many of them to descend upon the town in droves. Shannon Proudfoot is a feature writer for the Globe, and she went to Springfield in the days leading up to the election. She’s on the show to talk about the Springfield she got to know – behind all the hype – and how the story of Springfield can help us understand how the issue of immigration played out among voters across the country.

25 min
6 DAYS AGO

The new ‘Rosé All Day’? Stressed moms are microdosing mushrooms

The U.S. Surgeon General recently issued a health advisory saying that 48 per cent of parents with kids under 18 are completely overwhelmed by their stress. Most of those stressed out parents are moms – and some of those moms are turning to microdosing psilocybin to cope. Amberly McAteer is a Toronto-based writer and former editor in The Globe and Mail’s Opinion section. She looked into this trend and explains how parenting now is more stressful than in past generations, and explores what the consequences might be of microdosing an illegal, unregulated substance.

23 min
6 NOV

Inside The Globe’s U.S. election night coverage

The United States have never seen an election like this before. It began as a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump, but after Biden’s debate performance back in June, he made the unprecedented move of withdrawing from the race. Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in to become the Democratic nominee, and the second debate in September looked a lot different. Results trickled in last night for this nail biter of an election, with the outcome hinging on seven swing states. The 2024 U.S. presidential election may be over, but as of 2 a.m. ET on November 6, the winner hadn’t been officially declared. On today’s show, The Decibel is hosting an election night watch party, featuring Globe journalists in the newsroom and on the ground in key swing states. We’ll hear from international correspondent Nathan VanderKlippe, calling in from Georgia, and reporter Andrea Woo, calling in from Arizona. Patrick Dell checks up on disinformation, and columnist Doug Saunders joins Menaka Raman-Wilms in the studio to watch the results roll in.

28 min
5 NOV

The fight over clean energy jobs in a crucial U.S. swing state

The Inflation Reduction Act was passed after a contentious fight in the U.S. Congress, narrowly passing along partisan lines. The bill committed almost US$370-billion in tax credits and spending by the federal government on clean energy projects. It has become one of the Biden administration’s signature legislative wins. And yet, it hasn’t really been mentioned in this year’s presidential campaign. The Globe’s climate policy analyst Adam Radwanski wanted to understand why. So he travelled to Georgia – where a large number of IRA investments have led to a strong clean energy sector – to find out why.

22 min
4 NOV

A standoff in Parliament and the latest on Trudeau’s future

For more than a month, the government has not been able to pass any legislation. The House of Commons has been at a standstill, as they debate whether the Liberal government breached Parliamentary privilege. The Globe’s senior politics reporter Marieke Walsh talks about why the House has been unable to put this debate to rest, and why that’s leading to no movement in the House. She also catches us up on the latest news around Trudeau’s leadership of the Liberal Party and what the Bloc Québecois ending its support for the Liberals means for our chances of an election.

22 min

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Menaka Raman-Wilms

Host

Context is everything. Join us Monday to Friday for a Canadian daily news podcast from The Globe and Mail. Explore a story shaping our world, in conversation with reporters, experts, and the people at the centre of the news.