The Decibel

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com

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 thedecibel@globeandmail.com