The Decibel

4.1 (29)
DAILY NEWS
UPDATED DAILY

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.

6 HR. AGO

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
1 DAY AGO

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
4 DAYS AGO

The story of a secret mission to save more than 1,500 Afghans

Dr. Farouq Samim cried as the Taliban swept back into power in 2021. While he was safe in Ottawa, many members of his family were stranded – and at risk of death – back in Afghanistan. Determined to do something, he paired up with two lawyers he didn’t know to launch a secret mission: Operation Abraham. The Globe’s International Affairs reporter, Janice Dickson, got inside access on how this rescue effort ended up saving over 1,500 people over three years despite bureaucratic hurdles and increasing threats.

28 min
5 DAYS AGO

Floods, storms, rising sea levels — why do we build on the coast?

In 2019, Nova Scotia’s then-Liberal government passed the Coastal Protection Act — legislation that would have brought in regulations around building near the coast. In 2021, the Conservatives were voted into power, and it sounded like they were keen to keep the Act in place. But in February 2024, Nova Scotia’s government announced that they wouldn’t. Instead, the responsibility for regulating coastal development would be downloaded onto municipalities, and in some cases, even homeowners. Matthew McClearn is a data journalist for the Globe’s energy and environment team. He’s on the show to talk about what Nova Scotia’s abandonment of the Coastal Protection Act tells us about their approach to climate adaptation, and what happens when a province makes climate change an issue of personal responsibility.

17 min
6 DAYS AGO

Behind Canada’s explosive allegations against India

On October 14, the RCMP shared explosive allegations linking Indian government officials to homicides, extortions and coercion committed against Canadians, on Canadian soil. The RCMP said 30 people had been charged so far, and Ottawa announced it was expelling 6 Indian diplomats. Since the escalation, The Globe has learned the lengths Ottawa and the RCMP went to, to avoid worsening tensions between the countries. The Globe’s Ottawa Bureau Chief, Robert Fife, takes us inside the behind-the-scenes meetings that led to Canada’s escalation, how far up this goes in the Indian government, and what this all means for the future of Canada and India’s relationship. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

21 min
OCT 29

Riding the Greyhound through America’s swing states

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 means the presidency is won one state at a time — and in a country that vast, it’s hard to capture the nuances of the race in the snapshot of a poll. That’s why the Globe’s feature writer, Ian Brown, got on a Greyhound bus in downtown Los Angeles, and headed east for New York City. He and photographer Barbara Davidson traveled from the deserts of the Southwest to the dairy farms of Wisconsin to try to understand what people were thinking about the election. Ian’s on the show to talk about how taking the bus shaped his thinking about American politics, and he shares some excerpts from his feature on the trip.

24 min
OCT 28

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

On Thursday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a major reduction in the number of permanent residents the country will admit over the next three years, saying his government had not gotten the balance between labour needs and population growth “quite right.” In 2025 and 2026, the government had initially planned to bring in 500,000 permanent residents – now, they’ve set a target of 395,000 and 380,000, respectively. In 2027, that target is 365,000 permanent residents. This signifies a major policy reversal for the Trudeau government – and would mean that Canada’s net population is projected to decline by 0.2 per cent per year over the next two years. Marc Miller, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, joins us to discuss why the government is cutting Canada’s immigration targets, and why he says Canadians should trust the Liberals to fix the problem.

27 min
OCT 25

How to make a true crime podcast

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 since she heard it, The Globe’s Jana Pruden hasn’t been able to shake the voices of Amber Tuccaro and the man suspected of killing her, so she took a trip to Amber’s home community of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta to look into the case. Jana joins the show to share how and why she made the second season of In Her Defence: 50th Street, and what she learned reporting on Amber’s unsolved murder. You can listen to season two of In Her Defence wherever you get your podcasts.

24 min

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Menaka Raman-Wilms

Host

4.1

out of 5

29 Ratings

Huge fan

01/26/2022

NizkR

High quality stories with a Canadian perspective.
Finally! A Canadian perspective

10/15/2021

Danoftheforest

An outstanding podcast on both domestic issues and global affairs. Tamara Khandaker is an excellent host, and the level of analysis is second to none.
A considered perspective

06/06/2021

EmmaMollyMay

I’m a midwife in the US who has cared for many COVID+ patients this pandemic. I have to say that your episode on pregnant people in the ICU with COVID is one of the only times I’ve heard the voices of parents really highlighted in this pandemic. So many families have welcomed newborns after quarantine. It can be painful and scary and unnatural, even for asymptomatic parents. I appreciate the fact that you not only made parents feel safe enough to share concerns about bonding but that you also centered those concerns. Thank you for that.
Loved Episode 7 on Working from Home

05/19/2021

Antostler

I’ve been enjoying the new Decibel podcast and was delighted to hear Zabeen Hirji share so many great insights to help firms manage their team members working from home and for the eventual return to the office. A key message that resonated was the importance of ensuring employees get genuine breaks to recharge as work from home has a tendency to encroach upon evenings and weekends

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.