The Decibel

00:25:32

Luluemon’s fight to stay on top of athleisure

The Decibel ·

2026/08/12

For years, the Canadian athletic-wear brand Lululemon both pioneered and dominated the athleisure retail market. It turned workout gear into a status symbol, growing its international operations to 30 countries. But there’s trouble – a public battle with its founder, controversies over its marketing and a cratering stock price have all amounted to serious problems for the once-stalwart brand.Susan Krashinsky Robertson, The Globe’s retailing reporter, dives into the issues Lululemon faces, crunches

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00:24:41

Canadian banks are going big on AI

The Decibel ·

2026/08/11

Canadian banks are leaning heavily into AI adoption. More than 30 per cent of finance and insurance firms are using AI, compared to just 1.5 per cent of businesses in accommodation and food services. The banks are spending millions, in some cases billions, of dollars on AI programs, like chatbots for customers, for employees, and even for a CEO’s morning briefing. Today, we’ve got The Globe’s banking reporter Stefanie Marotta on the show. She’ll explain how banks are using AI (including ways

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00:22:27

Making Halifax into Canada’s defence city

The Decibel ·

2026/08/10

Steeped in military and naval history, Halifax is increasingly used as the backdrop for announcements of defence investment. The city is poised to benefit from substantial investment thanks to Mark Carney’s commitment to meeting NATO targets. But as more development arrives, is Halifax able to support the demands of an increased strain on its infrastructure and housing supply? Chris Wilson-Smith went there to find out. He’s a business reporter and the author of one of The Globe’s daily newsletters,

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00:32:04

Skinny, Inc. Part 1: The Canadian connection to Ozempic

The Decibel ·

2026/08/07

Dr. Daniel Drucker’s research helped pave the way for Ozempic, the blockbuster GLP-1 class drug. The endocrinologist has been researching the effects on Ozempic’s active ingredient semaglutide in the body for decades. Today, he’ll show us around his lab and explain how a stout lizard kept in a freezer helped unlock the science behind a drug taken by more than a million Canadians. Then, health reporter Kelly Grant tells us about rising obesity rates in Canada, and we’ll hear from a doctor who

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00:24:08

How Gen Z says ‘oui’: Meet Quebec’s young sovereigntists

The Decibel ·

2026/08/06

With a Quebec provincial election on deck this fall, and the Parti Québécois leading in the polls, there’s a good chance Quebec will hold another referendum on independence. Support for separation is polling at around 30 per cent — far below the majority vote result needed to form an independent country. However, a new generation of sovereigntists is cropping up, one that hadn’t even been born for the last referendum, in 1995.Maura Forrest is a Quebec correspondent for The Globe and Mail. She’s on

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00:20:31

Canadian NATO intern accused of spying

The Decibel ·

2026/08/05

A Canadian woman has been arrested and accused of spying for a third country during her internship at NATO’s headquarters in Belgium. The woman had a work history with Canadian government agencies and was once found to have committed fraud when trying to apply for a job with the Canada Border Services Agency.This case is now raising questions about how the Canadian government vets its candidates, especially for roles that could have access to sensitive information. Greg Mercer is an investigative

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00:22:48

Inside ‘Davos on the dock,’ the invite-only Muskoka...

The Decibel ·

2026/08/04

The Dock has been around since 2015. It’s an invite-only conference where tech, business and political leaders gather to talk. This year it was at a billionaire real estate magnate’s cottage estate in Ontario’s Muskoka region. And Prime Minister Mark Carney attended for part of the three-day conference.Guests are asked not to talk about what happens there, but business reporters Tim Kiladze and Sean Silcoff managed to report details about who goes, what ideas get suggested to the government and a

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00:22:16

Who are the people hacking hackers?

The Decibel ·

2026/07/31

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 convince them to lower the ransom fee. Today, the Globe’s financial

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00:27:59

Ontario’s failed bid to expand Toronto’s island airport

The Decibel ·

2026/07/30

Billy Bishop Airport, located on the western edge of the Toronto Islands, just south of downtown, has long been the subject of controversy. There was opposition to its expansion when Porter Airlines launched back in 2006, and again in the early 2010s when Porter wanted to allow jet traffic. The latest push to expand Billy Bishop took off in earnest in the spring, when Ontario Premier Doug expropriated Toronto’s stake in the agreement between three levels of government that govern the airport

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00:24:50

What’s up with Canada’s condo market?

The Decibel ·

2026/07/29

The Canadian condo market is crumbling. As prices continue to plummet, thousands of condo units sit empty and unsold in Vancouver and Toronto – two of Canada’s largest real estate markets. While buyers grow increasingly hesitant, both federal and provincial governments are trying different tactics to revive the market, with degrees of success.The Globe’s real estate reporter, Rachelle Younglai joins The Decibel to talk about how the condo market ended up in this state, what’s being done about it

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00:22:51

Why chicken is so expensive right now

The Decibel ·

2026/07/28

First, beef prices went sky-high. Now, the price of chicken is getting more expensive — and Canadian chicken production is struggling to keep up with demand. Between a protein craze driving up demand and a supply crunch affecting producers, the wholesale price of chicken has shot up 12 per cent since May, 2025.Kate Helmore is The Globe’s agriculture and food policy reporter. She joins us to explain what’s contributing to chicken’s dramatic rise, and when prices might start to level out. Questions

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00:25:33

The Odyssey and IMAX’s Canadian roots

The Decibel ·

2026/07/27

When’s the last time going to see a movie was a cultural event? Director Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has people flocking to theatres for its star-studded cast and action-packed storytelling — but also because of the way it was made. The Odyssey is the first full-length feature shot entirely with IMAX film and getting a ticket to see it in ‘the best format’ has sent some Canadians on odysseys of their own. Today, the Globe’s Deputy Arts Editor and Film Editor, Barry Hertz, is here. He’ll explain

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00:25:03

How much AI music is in your playlist?

The Decibel ·

2026/07/24

What does it mean to create music? Would you be able to tell if the sounds you were listening to weren’t made or sung by a human? Artists and supporters of the music industry are asking some of these existential questions, as technology in consumer generative AI has grown in leaps and bounds and record companies are settling legal battles with AI companies.Josh O’Kane, Globe reporter on arts and business, joins The Decibel to talk about the friction between musicians and AI tools, how AI slop has

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00:24:43

Trump’s gamble on a Depression-era tariff law

The Decibel ·

2026/07/23

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to impose a 50-per-cent tariff on more than 500 Canadian goods effective next month. This is far from the first time the Trump administration has threatened levies on Canada. But this time, the administration has pulled a lever that dates all the way back to the 1930s. Today, Adrian Morrow, The Globe’s U.S. correspondent based in Washington, walks us through the Smoot-Hawley Act Trump has invoked, the strategy behind using it and what legal challenges the law

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00:24:10

What Canada can learn from Indigenous fire practices

The Decibel ·

2026/07/22

Nearly 900 wildfires are burning across Canada, and early estimates suggest Ontario is experiencing its worst wildfire season on record. In Northwest Ontario, more than a dozen communities – most of which are First Nations – have been evacuated, with some people taken to places as far away as Niagara Falls. As fire seasons get worse, Indigenous people are disproportionately affected, but their historical practices of forest management – practices that could improve conditions – had historically been

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00:27:16

Decoding Mark Carney’s strategic narrative about Canada

The Decibel ·

2026/07/21

One of the key jobs of a prime minister is to help build out the story of what is Canada. And while Mark Carney was considered a political neophyte when he became Prime Minister, he’s proven to be adept in using political symbolism to build out his version of what it means to be Canadian at this moment in time. Shannon Proudfoot, a feature writer for The Globe, pieces together the actions, speeches and policies that Prime Minister Carney has used over the last year and a bit to build out his

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00:25:29

The resistance to AI data centres in Canada

The Decibel ·

2026/07/20

There are several development projects underway for AI data centres in Canada, with plans for many, many more. The Canadian government is behind these projects as it tries to encourage Canadians to adopt the technology and increase Canada’s digital sovereignty by housing data within our borders. But there is a lot of opposition to these data centres from the communities where they’d be built, including in Hamilton, and Île-des-Chênes, Man. Residents worry about the facilities’ water use, power use

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00:45:35

Pitch and Power: How the ’90 World Cup captured...

The Decibel ·

2026/07/19

Pitch and Power is The Globe and Mail's World Cup podcast. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s England was a country under strain, marked by industrial decline, social unrest and sharp political divides. In that climate, English soccer became a national problem rather than a point of pride. Stadiums crumbled, hooliganism spread and tragedy struck at Bradford, Heysel, and Hillsborough. The game felt like a relic: toxic, unsafe, unloved. Then, in the summer of 1990, something shifted. This episode

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00:25:04

Another crucial strait that could strangle the global...

The Decibel ·

2026/07/17

A lot of attention has been given to the Strait of Hormuz amid Iran’s closure in response to attacks by the U.S. and Israel. But another key strait in the region, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen, has also been threatened with a shutdown, and it’s similarly vital to trade. Thomas Juneau is a professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. As an expert on Yemen and the Houthis, Juneau discusses the importance of the strait, the

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00:25:03

How much forest management matters in wildfires

The Decibel ·

2026/07/16

Evacuation orders are under way in communities in northwestern Ontario, as more than 140 wildfires rage in the region. Meanwhile, smoke from the fires has drifted south, blanketing cities like Toronto in a yellow haze. Fire officials confirm more than 4.7 million acres have burned throughout Canada this year. As wildfires have become a regular occurrence in Canada, questions about what can be done to mitigate the damage and protect communities has become louder. Dr. Jen Beverly, associate professor

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