The Decibel

The smart city movement — driven by the idea that we can leverage data and technology to optimize life in our cities — is attractive for many reasons. But critics say that smart cities may not be so wise, and in some cases, they’ve proven to be dangerous for democracy. In the first episode of season three, we’re doing a deep dive into this very concept: What are smart cities, and who are they for? Where has smart-city technology helped, and when does it start to wade into surveillance-capitalism territory ? Adrian speaks to John Lorinc, an urban affairs journalist and the author of Dream States: Smart Cities, Technology, and the Pursuit of Urban Utopias, about how the perception of smart cities has shifted over the years, and how smart city technology can both improve and disrupt our lives. Plus, Globe and Mail reporter Josh O’Kane shares his reporting from his new book, SIDEWAYS: The City Google Couldn’t Buy, which looks at Alphabet’s failed attempt to build a smart city in Toronto and what that high-profile example tells us about citizen engagement and good governance around the world. 

Insomnia, dizziness, hallucinations – these are just a few of the life-changing symptoms that dozens of people have reported having in New Brunswick. After several years and a provincial investigation, patients are still left wondering what is going on. They want the federal government to step in and examine their situations further.The Globe’s health reporter Wency Leung joins the podcast to explain the fight patients have on their hands to get answers.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

On Tuesday, Donald Trump became the first former U.S. president to be indicted on criminal charges. He faces 34 felony counts of falsifying business records relating to hush money paid to porn star, Stormy Daniels.The scene at the Manhattan courthouse where Mr. Trump appeared was a frenzy of cameras, journalists, protesters and Trump supporters. While this moment is a first in U.S. history, Jared Yates Sexton argues that focusing solely on Trump ignores the underlying factors that brought the country to this point. Jared is a frequent contributor to The Globe and the author of several books including “The Midnight Kingdom: A History of Power, Paranoia, and the Coming Crisis.” He’s on the podcast to tell us about where the MAGA movement that brought Trump to power is at now and how they might shape the current political situation today.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

About two years after the merger was proposed, Rogers and Shaw are becoming one company. To ensure that this deal doesn’t hurt Canadians, Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne put a number of conditions on the companies involved. But are they enough?Jennifer Quaid is an expert in competition law in Canada. She’s an Associate Professor and Vice-Dean of Research of the Civil Law Section at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Law. She explains what these deals mean for telecom competition in Canada.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The inquiry into Canada’s worst mass shooting has ended with the release of its final report. The 3,000 page document condemns the RCMP in how the police force responded to the tragedy where 22 people were killed in Portapique, Nova Scotia, in April 2020. A number of recommendations call for a complete overhaul of Canada’s federal police force in the hopes that a tragedy like this never happens again.The Globe’s Lindsay Jones is a reporter at the Atlantic bureau who was there as the final report was released to survivors, family and community members as well as government and police officials. She joins the podcast to share the main takeaways from the report and whether the RCMP will take these recommendations seriously.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The change came swiftly. A few hours after being announced by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Joe Biden, the rules at Roxham Road had tightened.Globe reporter Frédérik-Xavier Duhamel went to the popular unofficial border crossing and spoke to migrants trying to make the trek as changes to the Safe Third Country Act now limit who can claim asylum in Canada via that passage.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

As Canada races to compete in the clean tech sector as countries work toward their net zero climate goals, investors are trying to figure out where to park huge sums of money to back projects that are a part of this.Enter Canada’s green taxonomy, a guide to assess how green a project requiring investment actually is. Report on Business journalist Jeffrey Jones explains how it works and what it means for Canada’s oil and gas industries.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The Canadian federal government unveiled its 2023 budget on Tuesday, which sets the economic strategy and tone for the next fiscal year. There’s a lot packed into this document, ranging from measures to help with inflation to an expansion of the national dental plan to investment incentives to help us transition to a greener economy. But how will this budget really impact you?The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau – Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Bill Curry, personal finance columnist Rob Carrick, senior political reporter Marieke Walsh and senior Parliamentary reporter Steven Chase – join the podcast, five minutes at a time, to break down the key takeaways of this year’s budget.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

The price of concert tickets has risen dramatically – with some tickets costing thousands of dollars. Ticketmaster, which controls a huge proportion of the market, has come under fire recently for some of its practices, like dynamic pricing and murky service fees. It’s now the subject of a proposed class action lawsuit in Quebec.The Globe’s Josh O’Kane has been covering concerns around Ticketmaster for years. He’s here to explain what’s going on with the company, how Ticketmaster got such a stranglehold on the market, and what it means for the music industry.Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com

Collagen supplements are marketed as a holy grail anti-aging product. Bovine collagen is made from cattle hides, and a new investigation from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism traced the supply chain of some collagen companies all the way to deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.Elisângela Mendonça is a London-based Brazilian journalist with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Her reporting pulls back the curtain on the dark side of the booming collagen industry.Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com