The Decibel

Saudi Arabia has spent a decade pouring billions into investments to modernize their finance, entertainment, sports, technology and tourism industries, to help shift their economy away from oil. Now these efforts, called Vision 2030, are being challenged, in part, by the war in Iran, the missile and drone strikes against Saudi and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

Doug Saunders is the Globe’s International affairs columnist. He’...

This week marked an important milestone in the separatist campaign in Alberta. After months of getting people to sign their petitions to trigger a referendum on independence, the separatist leaders submitted their signatures to Elections Alberta for verification. But Elections Alberta cannot count the signatures right now.

That’s because of a court injunction that was put in place last month while a judge considers whether the trea...

Canada has spent the last year shoring up defence spending. Now a new multilateral financial institution, the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, is being established with the promise of offering stable financing to member countries. After months of negotiations, Canada was selected to be the bank’s host country last week.

Pippa Norman is the Globe’s innovation reporter, and also covers Canada’s defence industry. She’s going to ...

A big issue hangs over university students and professors, and that’s artificial intelligence. There are some rules and guidelines, but professors are largely left on their own to determine how much they want to adopt AI or not – and that’s created a wide range of opinions.

Today, we hear from five Canadian university professors about how they’re thinking about education and students in the world of AI. We speak with Amanda Perry, ...

Food affordability remains a priority for many Canadians. This week, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government unveiled the spring economic update. It included some already announced measures aimed to make groceries more affordable.

But some people are considering others measures to make food cheaper: public grocery stores. Federal NDP leader, Avi Lewis, has been talking about establishing a network of public grocery stores across Ca...

Once scammers successfully steal someone’s money, they need a place to stash it. So they are buying verified Canadian bank accounts in order to launder money. In the last 12 months, a Canadian cybercrime research firm identified 4,337 social media posts offering to purchase accounts.

The people who allow scammers to use their accounts are known as “money mules”. Many become implicated in the crime, even if they are recruited withou...

The Liberals’ spring economic update lays out $54-billion in new spending over six years, including $6-billion towards boosting employment in the trades and more money for sports. The update also shows an estimated deficit of $66.9-billion for the 2025-26 fiscal year, an $11.5-billion improvement over what the government had projected in the Nov. 4 budget.

Campbell Clark, The Globe’s chief political writer, joins the show to break ...

Only 10 HIV patients worldwide are known to have achieved the milestone of being in prolonged remission. Soon, a Toronto patient will be part of the historic achievement, becoming the 11th patient and first Canadian to be effectively cured of HIV. Doctors at the Canadian Conference on HIV/AIDS Research revealed that a patient underwent a stem cell transplant that is creating a natural immunity against the virus.

Jennifer Yang, heal...

It began with a whistle-blower alleging government interference in Alberta Health Services’ contracting process and its connections to a medical supply company, MHCare Medical. Alberta’s government denies the allegations. But soon, the whistle-blower and others – and a Globe reporter who dug into the case – were subject to a campaign of harassment, threats and surveillance. Who was behind it all?

Carrie Tait, a Globe reporter in Al...

Globe columnist Andrew Coyne interviews former U.S. ambassador and national security adviser John Bolton at The Globe and Mail’s INTERSECT/26 forum of government officials, industry leaders and policymakers. 

Coyne and Bolton discuss the spectre of Trump as a threat to Canada’s sovereignty, the tense relationship between the two countries and what Canada needs to do to bolster its defence in a time of potential conflict.

Hoste...

The Alberta government is drawing controversy over electoral politics. They’re being accused of gerrymandering – the practice of redrawing voting districts to boost prospects in elections. Instead of approving a new electoral map provided by a commission, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith voted to appoint a new commission to appoint a panel that will create a new map.

Matthew Scace is a reporter from the Globe’s Calgary bureau. He joi...

Robotics and drones are now leading the charge in modern warfare, reshaping battlefields in Ukraine and on the Strait of Hormuz. The Canadian military, with renewed funding and targets, is focusing on developing drones – and defence companies want to be part of production and investment.

Pippa Norman covers the defence industry and Canada’s military strategy for The Globe. She explains why unmanned vehicles are gaining popularity w...

The big sell is on. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has promised to raise $500-billion dollars of private investment over the next five years to reposition Canada as an important player in international business. The goal is to capture billions in foreign investments by selling, in Carney’s words, “what the world wants” – energy, critical minerals and an educated workforce. And a government-led summit this year to bring wea...

Last week, Ontario introduced new legislation proposing sweeping changes to education in the province – from how school boards are managed, to having attendance make up part of final grades for high school students. This is the latest in a string of changes that serve to centralize oversight over Canada’s largest education system.

The Globe’s education reporter, Dave McGinn, joins the show to talk about why Ontario says it’s introd...

For the last year and a half, the talk of construction sites and Bay Street was about a string of violent incidents targeting GFL, the waste management giant, and GIP, its sister construction company. There was suspected arson, vandalism, and executives’ homes were targeted in shootings in both 2024 and this past March. Earlier this month, police made an arrest in connection with the 2024 shootings: Ilan Philosophe, the founder of ...

Earlier this year, a report on domestic box office data for 2025 revealed that Canadian films brought in $13.9 million last year. Compared to $23.5-million in 2024, the report painted a distressing picture. But in the last three months, five homegrown films have been breaking box office records. After a sluggish year, Canadian movies are finally having a moment.

Barry Hertz is the Globe’s deputy arts editor and film editor. He join...

Ransomware attacks have become more prominent in recent years, with major breaches of hospitals, like Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children in 2022, and companies like Indigo in 2023. In 2025, damages from ransomware attacks were expected to reach US$57-billion dollars worldwide.

Alongside the rise of ransomware attacks came the emergence of a new kind of industry: ransomware negotiators. They communicate with attackers to try to co...

More than a year after 2025’s federal election, the Liberal Party now has a majority government. Monday’s federal by-elections – a clean sweep for Liberal candidates – plus a steady flow of floor crossings ensure Mark Carney’s government now has a slim majority with 174 seats in the House of Commons.

But how will Carney and the Liberals now use this power? And how will the dynamics in Parliament change? Today, a political panel of ...

The deadline to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement – the agreement that governs free trade in North America, also known as the USMCA – is less than three months away. Canada and Mexico are coming to these trade talks from very different positions: Mexico has been deep in technical discussions for some time, whereas Canada’s talks with the U.S. only resumed over the last few months after stalling out back in October.

Th...