The Decibel

At the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Turkey agreed to support Sweden’s bid to join the alliance. This paves the way for Sweden to become the 32nd member nation following closely behind Finland, which became a member earlier in the spring. The expansion of NATO is something Russia and President Vladimir Putin have used as a key rationale for the war against Ukraine – saying it jeopardizes Russia’s security.Timothy Sayle is an associate professor of history and director of the International Relations Program at the University of Toronto. He’s also the author of Enduring Alliance: A History of NATO and the Postwar Global Order. He’s on the podcast to explain the history and tension between NATO and Russia and what more countries joining the alliance tells us about the current state of global affairs.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Burning hours in an ER waiting room has long been a fact of Canada’s public health care system, but that wait time is starting to spike. Now, in Ontario it hovers at around 20 hours on average. And our cities, home to more people and more various determinants of health than anywhere else in the country, bear the brunt of it. In this episode, we’re looking at some issues that impact the growing hospital emergency room wait times: What factors are contributing to the problem? And can anything actually be done to alleviate it or is it a pipe dream? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

App-based ride-share and food delivery companies rely on algorithms that dictate speed, behaviour and the wage of gig workers resulting in different payments for the same work. Labour experts are warning about ‘algorithm wage discrimination’ and concern around protecting workers when it comes to AI.Vanmala Subramaniam, The Globe’s future of work reporter, discusses what we do know about how this works, and the growing trend of AI being in charge of a worker’s pay.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The opioid epidemic is taking young lives – the number of 15-24 year olds dying from opioid overdoses tripled between 2014 and 2021 in Ontario. And young people are shown to be less likely to seek treatment for their addictions. A deadly mix of those factors and a contaminated drug supply are creating lethal outcomes.The Ontario Drug Policy Research Network’s lead investigator, Dr. Tara Gomes is on the show to take us behind the numbers and how the politics around safer supply programs are impacting the people affected by harm reduction.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After months of negotiations, automaker Stellantis and battery maker LG Energy Solution have reached a deal with the federal and Ontario provincial governments. It’s worth up to $15-billion in subsidies for a plant that’s being built in Windsor, Ont.The plant is part of Canada’s push into the clean energy sector, but with a cost in the billions, it raises questions about whether this specific deal is worth the money.Adam Radwanski, The Globe’s climate change columnist and feature writer, takes us through why this deal could set a precedent for future projects like this.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

El Niño is back in a big way. This natural weather pattern is known to increase severe weather around the world. And scientists are trying to predict the impacts of this climate wild card – especially on top of global warming impacts.Ivan Semeniuk, The Globe’s science reporter, has been investigating the effects of El Niño. He’ll explain the impacts of El Niños in the past and what to expect this time around.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Last year, the federal government set an ambitious new immigration target — to bring in half a million permanent residents a year by 2025. While the country is already dealing with a pretty profound housing crisis, it’s likely everyone will feel the housing crunch even more as a record number of immigrants move to Canadian cities in the near future. Where will all these newcomers live and whose job is it to make sure the country is prepared? In this episode, we hear from Mike Moffatt, the Senior Director of Policy and Innovation at the Smart Prosperity Institute at the University of Ottawa. We’re also joined by Gregg Lintern, the Chief Planner for the City of Toronto, who discusses how Toronto’s housing goals can be met in time. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Coal mining might seem like a job of the past, but global demand for it has actually surged in the past few years. Nearly 7,000 coal miners are still working in the industry. But the job is killing them. Inhalation of coal dust particles is leading to black lung, an incurable condition that workers describe as drowning in their own lung fluid. Worse yet, Canada doesn’t have a tracking system, which makes compensation difficult for many miners.Decades after coal fuelled Canada, miners are now being left behind. Greg Mercer, investigative reporter for The Globe, spoke to the workers fighting to have their labour remembered – and to protect future generations.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Canada, alongside much of the world, has plans to become net-zero by 2050. And one of their main action-items is to move away from fossil fuels. But does Canada have an economic plan for when the oil and gas sector declines?The Globe’s energy reporter Emma Graney tells us about why Canada is falling behind, and how this may impact our economy if we don’t start making these changes now.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s sparkly, athletic and enthusiastic. But it’s grittier than you might think. Competitive cheer is a fast-growing sport in Canada that requires the skills of a gymnast and the agility of a dancer. Recently, almost 8,000 athletes from around the country gathered in Niagara Falls for the national cheer championship.The Globe’s feature writer, Jana Pruden was at the three-day competition where she spent time with athletes, parents and coaches. She’s on the show to explain what she learned and why she thinks we’ll be hearing a lot more about this sport in the coming years.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Grade 8 students of St. Demetrius Catholic School are in many ways like every other class – they’re nervous about going to high school, but excited for graduation. They’re also mostly refugees from the war in Ukraine, so they are also grappling with learning a new language and culture, and trying to set up a new life without knowing how long they’ll be here.The Globe’s education reporter Caroline Alphonso tells us the stories of some of these students, what they went through to get here and what it’s like starting a new phase of their lives somewhere they never thought they would be.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Multi-generational living in your 20′s and even 30′s has become common as young adults deal with unaffordable housing rates across Canada. And more than half of parents surveyed by the Globe and Mail say their adult kids pay rent while they live at home.Rob Carrick, the Globe and Mail’s personal finance columnist, joins us to discuss his recent survey on parents charging their adult kids for rent and trends we are seeing when it comes to multi-generational homes.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Over the weekend, a chaotic 36 hours unfolded in the Kremlin. The Wagner Group, a team of Russian military mercenaries created an uprising to challenge the Russian military, before Wagner’s leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin abruptly aborted the mission.But the damage was done – Russian president Vladimir Putin accused Prigozhin of trying to start a civil war. And for the first time in nearly two decades, Putin’s regime appears to be shaken publicly.Mark MacKinnon, The Globe’s senior international correspondent, talks about Putin’s rise to power and what this sudden mutiny says about his control in Russia.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Over 20 years later, someone has finally paid the price for Canada’s bread-fixing scandal – other than shoppers that is. Last week, baked-goods producer Canada Bread was fined $50-million for its role in coordinating the price hikes on bread.Susan Krashinsky Robertson is The Globe and Mail’s retail reporter. She explains why it has taken so long for the Competition Bureau to hold a company accountable and whether Canadians will be compensated for years of inflated bread prices.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Many municipalities across Canada are choosing profit over the environment when it comes to waste management options. This has left many Canadians questioning the country’s alleged commitment to long-term environmental protection.Dr. Cassandra Kuyvenhoven has a PhD in Environmental Studies with expertise in waste management. She breaks down the systematic issues surrounding Canada’s waste management system and what we could be doing better overall.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Controversy followed Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendocino after he said he was unaware that notorious serial killer Paul Bernardo was being moved from a maximum security to medium security prison. His explanation follows a pattern of federal ministers saying they’ve missed emails or hadn’t been briefed by their staff on major files.Marieke Walsh, the Globe’s senior political reporter, joins us to break down what’s happening with all these ministers missing crucial communications and what this says about competency in the federal government.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Usually the news coming from Canada’s Supreme Court is about the rulings they make, not about the Justices themselves. But the story of former Justice Russell Brown is unprecedented in many ways. It’s one that started in an Arizona hotel and ended with his resignation nearly six months later.The Globe’s Justice writer Sean Fine reports on what happened, how the investigation unfolded and what this means for Canada’s highest court both in terms of public confidence and its composition going forward.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Publication bans have become all but automatic in sexual-assault cases across Canada. These bans were put in place to protect survivors who have come forward. But My Voice My Choice, a group of women who are fighting those publication bans, argue that these bans prevent survivors who want to speak openly about their experiences.Molly Hayes and Zosia Bielski are national news reporters for The Globe and Mail. They’re on the show to explain the limits of these publication bans and the group fighting to make their voices heard.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

As the world races to mine more critical minerals, China has managed to capture nearly 100 per cent of the cesium market. While not as well known as lithium, cesium is an even rarer mineral. There are only two mines globally, and one of them is in Manitoba.But its owners are based in Beijing. And that is raising a number of national security concerns. The Globe’s mining reporter, Niall McGee, explains why.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

British Columbia will send cancer patients across the border for radiation therapy to deal with growing wait times and backlog at home.The plan will cost the province three times the amount for treatment at home. Globe and Mail reporter Andrea Woo explains how this will work and what this says about the state of our healthcare system.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Canada’s immigration system is overwhelmed. Cases are backlogged and little information is being communicated to applicants. This has led to a surge of access to information requests, which has created another backlog, and has left people trying to settle in Canada in the dark.Tom Cardoso, an investigative reporter with The Globe, explains why people started using this workaround to get information on their immigration cases in the first place, and why things are likely going to get worse.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chocolate may be sweet, but it comes at a steep cost. Labels that claim your favourite treat are sustainable can hide harsh realities for farmers. Millions of cocoa farmers in Africa and Latin America live in hunger and poverty because big corporations refuse to pay a fair price for their cocoa.In the face of this increasingly aggressive price war, some cocoa farmers have joined fair-trade, farmer-owned co-operatives. Together they are pooling their resources to better their communities and futures.Today, The Globe and Mail’s U.S. correspondent Adrian Morrow joins us to explain what he and the Globe’s Africa Bureau Chief Geoffrey York learned about the cost of chocolate.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Canada’s household debt is really high. In fact, we outrank France, Italy, the UK and even the U.S. And while, the debt load is high for Canadians of every age group, one particular generation stands by owing over $600,000 on average.Rob Carrick is The Globe and Mail’s personal finance columnist. He’s on the show to explain why Canadians owe so much and how over-indebted Canadians should be thinking about their finances.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In late May, the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni signed one of the world’s harshest anti-homosexuality bills into law. It authorizes the death penalty in certain circumstances and a 20-year prison sentence for anyone who “promotes” or “normalizes” homosexuality. The situation was already bad for queer people in Uganda, but this new law makes things much worse.Kimahli Powell is the CEO of Rainbow Railroad, a non-profit organization that helps at-risk LGBTQ people get to safety around the world. He’s on the show to explain what it’s like for LGTBQ people in Uganda right now and what his organization is doing to help them.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

David Johnston resigned as the special rapporteur on Friday after looking into foreign interference in Canadian elections. The former Governor General’s decision to step down came days after he appeared at a parliamentary committee on his work and was grilled by MPs from opposition parties.Steven Chase is The Globe’s Senior Parliamentary Reporter and he has been leading the foreign interference reporting with colleague Robert Fife. Steven joins the podcast to discuss where the investigation in China’s efforts to meddle in Canadian politics goes from here.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When Canada first passed legislation to create its access-to-information system, it was seen as a world leader in terms of transparency. But fast forward 40 years and that same system is sluggish, overwhelmed and preventing Canadians from their right to government information.Globe and Mail investigative reporters Robyn Doolittle and Tom Cardoso spent more than a year reporting on the state of the system and what’s behind all the bottlenecks. The Globe has also built a website that lets you explore more than 300,000 FOI summaries to help you navigate the system.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] can access The Globe’s Secret Canada project here: https://www.secretcanada.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The 2007-2008 financial crisis hit countries around the world hard. But, Greece’s economy really faltered. At the peak of Greece’s crisis, unemployment hit 28 per cent, a figure higher than unemployment during the U.S.’ Great Depression. Greece required three hefty bailouts from the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund which totalled almost €300-billion. The Greek population suffered under strict austerity measures which cut salaries and closed hospitals.Fast forward to today and the economy is showing remarkable signs of a bounceback. Eric Reguly is The Globe’s European bureau chief. He’s on the show to explain what went wrong in Greece, how they’re turning things around and what other countries can learn from Europe’s surprising comeback kid.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A lot of Canada is on fire right now – fires are burning in nearly every province and territory and the federal government says this season could see the most land burned since we started keeping records.Today, The Globe’s Lindsay Jones joins us from Halifax to talk about the biggest wildfire the province has ever seen, and why fires are so bad there this year. Then, The Globe’s Mike Hager tells us about the wildfires burning across Canada and how prepared the country is to deal with it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Canadians have been dealing with high inflation for two years now. But, as consumers, we keep spending. However, the picture of where we spend our money and how much of it is a messy one.The Globe’s retailing reporter Susan Krashinsky Robertson explains why some stores are seeing a drop in some areas of spending, even as Canadians are spending at an extremely high rate.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Toronto District School Board – the largest school board in the country – recently reported that more than 300 kids were involved in violent incidents this year. In March, Quebec’s education minister announced he was preparing a strategy to deal with increasing violence in schools. These are just two examples of the more frequent reports of violence in schools across the country, particularly among teenagers.Dr. Tracy Vaillancourt is a professor at the University of Ottawa and Canada Research Chair in Children’s Mental Health and Violence Prevention. She’s on the show to explain why violence in schools is on the rise and what research tells us about how to prevent it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The six biggest banks in Canada – RBC, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC, TD, and National Bank recently reported their second-quarter earnings. The majority did not hit target expectations. While banks don’t always meet analyst forecasts, the fact that so many of them had disappointing results in the same period is surprising.Stefanie Marotta reports on banking for The Globe. She’s on the show to explain what’s behind these lower-than-expected profit numbers and what it means for the economy – and Canadians.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After months of relative quiet in Kyiv, the city has been under attack this week by Russian drones and missiles. There have also been attacks within Russia. Looming over these events is the anticipated, and secretive, Ukrainian counteroffensive to regain territory it has lost to Russia in the war.Today, The Globe’s senior international correspondent Mark MacKinnon joins from Kyiv, Ukraine, to discuss these latest attacks and what a Ukrainian counteroffensive might look like.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Alberta is a province with a long history of conservative rule. And on Monday, Danielle Smith and the UCP added a new chapter by winning a majority. But it wasn’t a blowout. Rachel Notley and the NDP managed to score 38 seats, up from 23 in the previous sitting of the legislature.This is creating a new political dynamic in the province and Globe reporter and columnist Kelly Cryderman is on the show to explain what it means for the rest of the country.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Throughout the pandemic, Canadians were warned about the potential collapse of emergency rooms. ERs were stretched to the limit, as surges in patients ran up against labour shortages of doctors and health care workers. But now that the worst of the pandemic is over the situation in ERs hasn’t improved. Patients and doctors now paint a grim picture of a dysfunctional medical care system that remains in crisis, with few long -term fixes on the way.Carly Weeks, health reporter for The Globe and Mail, joins the podcast to explain why ERs are being pushed to the brink and what it says about the health care Canadians receive now.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Avian influenza is getting more serious each year, as an unprecedented number of birds either succumb to the virus or are culled to prevent spread. After a dog in Ontario and thousands of sea lions died from the flu, there’s growing concern about this strain’s ability to infect mammals.Dr. Samira Mubareka is an infectious diseases physician, medical microbiologist and scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute. She explains what’s going on with avian flu right now, where it could be headed and what we’re doing to stay ahead of it.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

With a cost-of-living crisis and rampant inflation, there’s a lot on the line for Turkey in the runoff election on Sunday. But this also matters beyond Turkey’s borders. The country is an important – and often challenging – ally for Western countries.Today, Istanbul-based writer and photographer Adnan Khan tells us what issues are at play in this election and what it could mean for Turkey’s role on the world stage.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Seasonal allergies are getting worse all across North America, in large part due to changes in pollen driven by climate change. But fear not, there is hope.Dr. Anne Ellis is a professor and division chair in the department of medicine at Queen’s University. She’s on the show today to discuss the effect worsening allergies can have on us and what we can do to live with them.Don't forget to fill out our survey!Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Former governor general David Johnston has ruled out a public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada’s elections, despite ongoing calls for one. Johnston was appointed special rapporteur in March to look into allegations of Chinese interference, driven largely by The Globe and Mail’s reporting.Today, The Globe’s senior parliamentary reporter Steven Chase explains why Johnston decided against a public inquiry, and the significance of that decision.Don't forget to fill out our survey!Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Whether you like it or not, AI is everywhere. It unlocks your phone through facial recognition, it manages spam emails in your inbox and it creates realistic photos of the Pope in a puffer jacket. With rapid developments in technology infiltrating our everyday lives, it’s a race for governments to figure out how to regulate it. And Ottawa might be playing catch up.Joe Castaldo is with The Globe’s Report on Business. Today, he explains the federal government’s plan to regulate AI for consumers and data protection, and how this proposed legislation compares to others worldwide.And here's a link to our survey!Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Experts are anticipating another chaotic season of air travel in the coming months. Along with ongoing labour disputes, Canadian airlines have scheduled more flights for the summer. There’s a catch though: they might not have the crew to staff them.Today, The Globe’s transportation reporter Eric Atkins explains why airlines still might not have enough staff and what we’re in for in the coming months.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Two hundred and fifty kilometres above the Arctic Circle is a greenhouse that provides fresh local produce to its community. It’s called Naurvik and it’s located in the Inuit hamlet of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut. Powered primarily by wind- and solar-energy, Naurvik is becoming a new source of food for a region of Canada that suffers chronic food insecurity given how remote it is.Photojournalist Amber Bracken visited Gjoa Haven earlier this year and will take us on a tour inside the greenhouse that is beating the odds.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Wildfires are raging across Alberta with early-season fires forcing thousands to evacuate their homes. Firefighters from across the country and the U.S., as well as the Canadian Armed Forces, are streaming in to battle the flames. Officials are predicting the worst is yet to come with high temperatures and no rain in the forecast.Meanwhile, a provincial election is right around the corner. United Conservative Party Leader Danielle Smith is trying to balance her role as premier with her political campaign for the job. And frustrations amongst some residents are growing.Reporter Carrie Tait from the Globe and Mail’s Calgary bureau is on the show to explain the political impacts of this natural disaster.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

China is Canada’s second-largest trading partner, but tensions continue to rise between the two countries over allegations of foreign interference and concerns about human rights. So the Canadian government is trying to expand trade to other places – like India.The Indian and Canadian governments have been negotiating for more than a decade on a trade agreement, but this might finally be the moment we get one. Today, Rita Trichur, The Globe’s senior business writer and columnist, explains why it’s taken so long for an agreement to come through and why it’s so important.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On May 5th the World Health Organization declared the end of the COVID-19 emergency. But what does that mean for the pandemic? How should we be thinking about the COVID virus now and what kind of risk are we still exposed to?It’s taken three years of social distancing, mask mandates, and varying degrees of lockdown to get to this stage, but what comes next is still a bit of a mystery. Today, Lisa Barrett, an infectious diseases specialist at Dalhousie University and a practicing clinician, how we can manage COVID now and where the disease could go from here.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

BlackBerry changed our lives when it created the world’s first commercially successful smartphone. But its dominance was disrupted and the Canadian tech giant lost nearly everything. BlackBerry’s dramatic fall from grace is now the topic of a film that is in theaters May 12.The Globe’s technology reporter, Sean Silcoff, who co-authored the book that film is based on, is on the show to discuss how he got the inside access needed to tell the story of BlackBerry’s rise and fall and explains why it is still relevant today.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Tuesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry strongly condemned Canada’s expulsion of Chinese diplomat, Zhao Wei for allegations of foreign interference. In response, China expelled a Canadian diplomat in Shanghai.While headlines about Chinese interference have been front and centre in Canada ever since the Globe first reported on China’s interference attempts back in February, this latest row has also hit a nerve in China. Today, The Globe and Mail’s Asia correspondent, James Griffiths, explains how the current escalation in tensions are viewed in China.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On May 8, Canada expelled Chinese diplomat Zhao Wei in response to China’s interference in Canadian politics. The extraordinary move is the first expulsion of a Chinese diplomat in decades and could carry substantial consequences given the size of Canada’s economic and social ties with China.This is the latest development in an ongoing saga around Chinese interference in Canada which broke after The Globe and Mail reported on secret and top-secret CSIS documents alleging a sophisticated strategy by China to disrupt the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Today, Campbell Clark, The Globe’s chief political writer, explains what has happened to bring us to this moment and how this action will impact Canada’s relationship with China. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to help millennials hoping to buy a first home with a new program, called the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive. It was supposed to help 100,000 Canadians buy their first home but, according to real estate professionals, the program was doomed from the start.To understand what has gone wrong, economics reporter Matt Lundy crunched the numbers. He explains why the program has fallen short of its goal and how it is failing to address the real problem in real estate.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Economic predictions can be incredibly important for companies and governments trying to plan for the months and year ahead – and that ripples down to individuals trying to budget as well. But some experts worry that the forecasts are becoming less and less accurate.Todd Hirsch has been an economist for around three decades. Today, he tells us why forecasts aren’t working as well as they used to, how so-called ‘black swan’ events are changing things, and what that means for our ability to plan for the future.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Saturday, King Charles III will be crowned in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London. This is the first coronation of a British monarch in 70 years and it’s brought up questions from Canadians about why a democratic country like Canada still maintains ties with the monarchy. A recent Angus Reid Poll found that 52 per cent of respondents do not want to continue as a constitutional monarchy. But leaving isn’t that easy.Errol Mendes is a lawyer, author and constitutional and international law professor at the University of Ottawa. He’s on the show to explain how Canada’s constitution makes leaving the monarchy almost impossible.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at [email protected] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.