The Decibel

On Monday April 28, Canadians voted in another Liberal government.They are heading to the House of Commons with what appeared to be a minority government.The Conservatives gained seats and will form the Official Opposition; however, leader Pierre Poilievre’s seat remained undecided early Tuesday morning.

Today, the Globe’s Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife and feature writer Shannon Proudfoot join us from the nation’s capital. They br...

It’s impossible to get a full picture of a country as big and diverse as Canada, but audio journalist Kasia Mychajlowycz set out on a road trip to find as many people as she could to ask: what’s the most important issue to you in this election season, and why?

What people answered ranged through topics like affordability, healthcare, trust in government, reconciliation, tariffs and more. But in over 35 interviews in a dozen places o...

With the federal election nearly upon us, we’re bringing you the last edition of Campaign Call before Canadians head to the polls. This week, feature writer Shannon Proudfoot and columnists Robyn Urback and Marsha Lederman discuss how the leaders’ final pitches are sitting with Canadians.

Plus, The Globe’s economics reporter Nojoud Al Mallees breaks down the costed platforms of the Liberals and the Conservatives and explains why som...

Nearly 15 years ago, the NDP became Canada’s official opposition. Now, Jagmeet Singh and the NDP are trailing far behind the frontrunners of the upcoming federal election and are no longer campaigning to win — but instead to hold the winners accountable, raising questions about the party’s future.

Gary Mason is a national affairs columnist at the Globe. He’s on the show to explain how Singh’s campaign is responding to waning support...

Ahead of Pope Francis’s funeral on Saturday, many are remembering his time as pope as one that marked a shift towards more progressive ideals, including an apology for the role of the Catholic Church in the harm done to Indigenous peoples through the residential school system, both in Rome, and again in Canada, back in 2022. Some critics said this apology didn’t go far enough. 

Tanya Talaga is an Anishinaabe journalist, speaker and ...

Recently, U.S. President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs have created an uncertain environment for Canadian businesses, and many are considering shifting investments south of the border. But, for some, tariffs are having the opposite effect – providing opportunity to grow in Canada.

Pippa Norman is The Globe’s innovation reporter. She’ll explain how these businesses are expanding at home, and how risky the bet on Canada m...

On April 28, Canadians will vote in a new federal government. Voters have gotten to know the front-runners – Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Liberal leader Mark Carney … but what about the people steering them?

With a week left, we’re looking at the people running this election’s leading campaigns – and the strategies driving the Liberal and Conservative war rooms in this tight race.

The Globe’s senior reporter Stephanie Lev...

Presenting Machines Like Us, a Globe and Mail podcast on technology and people.

We’re a few weeks into a federal election that is currently too close to call. And while most Canadians are wondering who our next Prime Minister will be, host Taylor Owen and his guests today are preoccupied with a different question: will this election be free and fair?

In her recent report on foreign interference, Justice Marie-Josée Hogue wrote that “...

Canadians are not particularly good at resting. According to Statistics Canada data collected between July 2022 and July 2023, people over the age of 15 spent an average of 17 minutes a day resting, relaxing, or lying down, and an average of 18 minutes a day on relaxing pursuits known as “active leisure” (think: birdwatching, camping, or going to an art gallery). That’s translating into stress – more than a fifth of employed Canadi...

With less than two weeks until the federal election, The Decibel is bringing you another edition of Campaign Call, The Globe’s weekly election panel.

This week, ahead of the French and English leaders’ debates, feature writer Shannon Proudfoot and chief political writer Campbell Clark will explain why debates still matter and what each leader needs to accomplish during them.

In the second half, we’re joined by Nik Nanos, the chief da...

The way medical records are handled in Canada is a patchwork of disconnected systems – creating massive headaches for patients and doctors. Patients struggle to access their own data, and practitioners have to waste time compensating for inefficiencies. But, governments, companies and healthcare professionals are searching for ways to make all these systems talk to each other.

Chris Hannay is a staff reporter at the Globe who covers...

The federal election is in two weeks, on April 28 – so the Decibel has invited the leaders from Canada’s major parties onto the show to share their vision for the country.

And while environmental concerns haven’t been top-of-mind in this election … Green Party co-leader Jonathan Pedneault says he isn’t just concerned about climate change.

Pedneault – who previously served as the party’s deputy leader from 2022 to 2024 – is proposing ...

We’re halfway through the election period and it’s time for Campaign Call, The Decibel’s weekly election panel making sense of the major issues. This week, the embers of western separatism were stoked by an opinion piece by Preston Manning published in The Globe, arguing that national unity is on the ballot. We explore the threats of regionalism amidst the surge of pro-Canadian sentiment across the country. Plus, we’ll look into ho...

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced sweeping global tariffs on most of the world, plunging markets into some of the worst days in recent memory. The tariffs took effect yesterday, but after hours of market volatility, the White House reversed course. Trump announced a 90-day pause on his initial tariff plans, instead issuing a 10-per-cent tariff on all implicated trading partners other than China. Instead, Trump double...

For years, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has been framing the federal race as a “carbon tax election.” But then Mark Carney became the Liberal Leader and Prime Minister and “axed the tax” for him, setting the consumer carbon price to zero.

Now, Poilievre is targeting another federal carbon tax – the one on the industry’s largest emitters. It’s part of a broader shift in this election toward energy sovereignty. Against the bac...

In the age of gentle parenting, a new trend has emerged: parents are changing the ways they talk to their young children about sharing. Rather than forcing their kids to share their toys, relenting to their playmates’ demands, some parents are encouraging their children to say “no” and stand up for themselves.

Amberly McAteer is a contributing parenting columnist for the Globe. She joins the show to talk about what it looks like to ...

Last week, the U.S. Senate vote to pass Senator Tim Kaine’s resolution to end the state of emergency that allows U.S. President Donald Trump to issue tariffs on Canadian goods. President Trump’s stated reason for the tariffs is that the fentanyl flowing into the United States from Canada “constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat.” The number he’s been citing is 43 pounds for the fiscal year 2024.

Globe reporters Kathryn Blaze...

It’s the end of the week, which means it’s time for Campaign Call…our election panel where we make sense of the major issues. This week we’re going to talk about one of the central themes in the campaign: the uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump. We also get into why the Conservatives are fighting in public, and what each major party is promising to help workers affected by Trump’s tariffs.

Feature writer Shannon Proudf...

U.S. President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order on Wednesday to put reciprocal tariffs on goods from most of its international trading partners. Trump called the tariffs a “declaration of economic independence” and accused other nations of stealing American jobs.

However, Canada and Mexico, which have been in Trump’s crosshairs for months, are exempt from the new tariffs, as long as they comply with the U.S.-Mexico-Can...